Don't Tease the Dog
by Cumor
Summary: Embarrassed by Rosalie's rude behavior towards Jacob, Esme decides to take matters into her own hands to see that it never happens again. Short three shot based off of the cut "dog bowl" scene from Breaking Dawn 1. Warning: Some inappropriate language and contains disciplinary spanking. Proceed at own risk. If you are easily offended please don't read. Thanks.
1. Don't Tease the Dog

**Warning: **Contains disciplinary spanking. If you do not find this acceptable please move along to stories that are more fitting of your interests. Thanks so much.

**Disclaimer:** All the wonderful Twilight characters that you recognize are property of Stephenie Meyer. I am very grateful that she is kind enough to loan them to us. I promise no loss of limbs or life though pain and angst along with a touch of humor, thanks to Emmy, are a given. Characters will be returned to their full upright and intact position by the end of the story.

**AN: **This one I entirely blame on TwilightMusicLife93. It really is not my fault, guys. I swear it. I was sitting there minding my own business when I received a link for a scene that was cut from BD1. It is a lovely scene that I know many people had longed for.. the dog bowl scene between Rosalie and Jacob. Well... the expression on Esme's face after Rose's little insult and Jacob's retaliation is priceless. I knew the moment that the video ended I was going to have to write this. It should end up being a three shot and is just a little mental break to have a bit of fun. Much to Emmett's dismay, his laughter at Rosalie getting beamed on the head by that bowl means no lovin' for him in this story so it should be pretty safe in general. Sorry, Big Guy. Better luck next time. Hope ya'll enjoy.

Quick thanks to all my readers. You guys continue to rock my world and give me the push to be better. Thanks so very very much. Also need to thank my tireless, brave and under the weather Beta, Splinter. Get yourself better soon because I can't do this without you. *hugs*

* * *

At the sound of the shower being turned off, Esme excused herself from the living room and headed up stairs with a quiet suggestion to Emmett that he might wish to find something to distract himself with if he felt that he would be uncomfortable. As the matriarch disappeared from view, Jacob glanced over at Edward while he tended to Bella in her fitful sleep, noting an odd smirk on his face. Redirecting his gaze to the brawny boy leaning on the piano he gave Emmett a questioning look.

The bruin shrugged his massive shoulders in reply. "Normally we would clear out; go on a hunt or something. The Bowwow Brigade out there, no offensive, makes that pretty much impossible. I suppose I could take the jeep and head to town, but it's still risky. I'm sure that a couple of your buddies would try to run me off the road and then things would just get really ugly." Emmett groaned a bit.

Edward shot his brother a sympathetic look. "Going into town isn't the best idea even if you could make it. As thirsty as we all are right now it's just too big of a risk to take. Carlisle would be furious and I think Rosalie can deal with being in trouble herself much better than trying to control herself if it's you in Carlisle's study."

"Hold on." Jacob waved his hand in the air to derail the current conversation. "What in the hell are you talking about? What's going on?"

A sheepish expression crossed Emmett's face. "Rosie just landed herself in some deep shit with Momma."

Jacob continued to look puzzled. "For what?"

Edward stroked Bella's damp hair as she moaned in pain. "For that little dog joke, though I'll admit that I found it rather inspiring. God knows that we needed something to break the tension."

"Esme is mad because Blondie ragged on me? What the hell? We do that all the time. It's not that big of a deal. Hell, it's fun to try to one up each other and honestly, it really is nice to have a worthy opponent for a change."

"Yeah well, Momma doesn't see it that way." Emmett ran a hand through his thick dark hair as the muffled sounds of an argument reached his sensitive ears. Things were not going to go in his mate's favor and he was beginning to find himself frustrated that he was powerless to help her. "It didn't help that she just got finished telling you that Rosie wouldn't embarrass her by doing something rude. Well you all know my Babe; always up for a challenge. Don't think she banked on that one coming back to bite her in the butt so quickly though."

Edward nodded. "She figured that the siege would give her a bit of immunity since there really is no way to leave the house. Rosalie saw an opportunity and just took it."

"With Momma's nerves on edge like they are that was a bad gamble." Emmett hung his head slightly as he shook it before a bright smile lit up his face. "That really was a good one though. Dog bowl for the family pet. Even feeding him on the floor. How brilliant was that, huh? My Rosie was on fire."

"Unfortunately, she is going to be again."

"Yeah." A worried sadness shown in Emmett's black eyes as he glanced down at his hands. "She should have known better than to tease the dog like that in front of Momma. Momma Bear don't play those types of games; not ever."

"Being rude to a guest is never advisable." The soft voice that came from the direction of the stairs drew the attention of all three boys. Carlisle stopped his descent and cringed slightly as a muted pop resounded through the house. "I wish that she had let me handle it, but at least it will be over quickly."

"What in the hell was that?"

Emmett stiffened and growled low as the sound came again.

"Emmett, I know that this is extremely difficult for you, but you must control yourself before this entire unpleasantness spirals out of control. Ask yourself, how would Rosalie want you to react? I know that you want to defend her, but think about who you are trying to defend her from."

A slightly louder crack filled the air and Emmett screwed his eyes tightly shut. Carlisle was at his side in an instant laying a reassuring hand on his son's shoulder. "She'll be fine, Em. It's nothing more than a quick reminder to keep herself in check. You know that your mother is not one to be harsh with anybody. In a few moments you can go and check on Rosalie yourself and see that she's alright. Just try to calm down."

"Is someone going to fucking answer me? What in the hell is going on in this house?"

Edward looked up from his charge and caught Jacob's eye. "Just a little Cullen justice. It's nothing for you to concern yourself with."

"Edward." Carlisle gave his first born a pointed look that effectively silenced his son. With a sigh the patriarch shook his head. "Jacob, I will ask you to refrain from using such language in this house. It's unbecoming and this is the one place that we can generally count on to find peace and serenity. I would rather not have crassness destroying that when it is most needed."

"Pops, it's not like we're in Nirvana any longer. We're smack dab in the middle of a war zone right now. I don't think a bit of cursing is going to make that much of a difference."

"It makes a difference to me, Emmett and I still expect the rules to be followed."

"Carlisle, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything." Jacob took a step toward the elder. "I'm just confused. I mean what the… what does Edward mean by 'Cullen Justice'? I never meant for Rosalie to get into trouble. Maybe I should go talk to Esme and try to …."

"No, Jacob. You are going to stay down here with us. This is between my wife and our daughter. You would be wise to stay out of it. Believe me, you did not cause Rosalie's dilemma. She knew that she was pushing her luck well before she acted."

"Dude, it was a joke. Can't anyone take a joke around here? It's no big deal."

"It was disrespectful. We are a family, Jacob and to coexist as such there are rules that must be adhered to. Honestly it isn't a huge list, but those that we have all center on one main theme and that is respect for ourselves and each other. Disrespect is generally addressed swiftly before it has a chance to get out of hand."

"Addressed?"

Emmett rolled his eyes. "Damn, but you canines really don't have a high IQ, do you?"

"Emmett Dale, what did I just say about respect, not to mention language?"

"Aw, come on, Pops. I was just stating the obvious. Seriously, how hard is it to put two and two together?"

"Not very since you can do it," Edward quipped from his position at Bella's side as he tried unsuccessfully to hide a smirk.

"Exactly!" Emmett waved his hand towards Jacob then suddenly let it fall as he turned and gave his brother a dark look. "Hey! That was not cool, Bro."

"Sorry, Em, but you left yourself wide open on that one."

Carlisle pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "That will be enough, boys." Noticing the food strewn across the floor for the first time, the elder nodded towards it. "Since you need something to keep you occupied, Emmett, how about cleaning that up? I'm sure that Esme would be happily surprised by your efforts."

The bear scrunched up his nose but nodded earning himself a pat on the back from his father.

"I'll give you a hand, Emmett. I mean, hell, it was me who threw it in the first place."

"Thanks, Muttly. You know for a howler, you aint too bad." He grinned and gave Jacob a playful shove.

Realizing that the sounds from upstairs had died down, Carlisle returned to the upper landing to check on things while promising Emmett that he would call the bruin up as soon as the coast was clear.

Emmett and Jacob made quick work of cleaning up the scattered hotdog and onions along with the bent mixing bowl itself, but the mustard smear on the carpet was proving to be a bit more problematic.

"Dude, if you're going to throw stuff make sure that it lands on the tile. It's sealed for a reason." Emmett complained as he nearly scrubbed a bald spot in the plush pile. "Damn, but I wish it wasn't this close to the doorway or we could just move a vase or something over it and no one would ever know."

"Sure, Em, because that has worked so well in the past." Edward snorted.

"That was during Momma's feng shui phase. How was I supposed to know that everything had to be in a certain place and that she would know if it was off by just a couple of inches."

Edward looked aghast. "A few inches? Are you serious, Em? You moved a sculpture three rooms down."

"It was the only thing big enough to cover the scorch mark."

"Oh damn!" Jacob grinned. "You caught the house on fire?"

"No…just the floor…and the couch… and maybe a little bit of the coffee table. It wasn't a big deal." Emmett looked away in embarrassment.

"It was a big deal when dad got hold of you. You didn't sit right for a week and you know it."

"Three days at most. Three days."

Edward cocked a brow as he stared at his big brother. "A week, Em. It is still a family record."

"Wait just a minute. Are you saying that you were…."Jacob covered his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. "Is that what was happening? Did Blondie just get…? Oh, Man, aren't you guys a little too old for that? I mean really isn't Blondie like two hundred or something? I can't believe that she still gets her ass warmed by mommy."

Emmett growled in warning. "It's not funny, Jacob and don't let Rose hear you making cracks about her age. She'll kill you and I'll be damned if I'll stop her."

"Like hell it's not funny. That is some funny ass shit right there." The boy rolled with laughter. "Big old bad ass vampires cowering because they are afraid of getting a little spanking. Shit, there are seven year olds back on the Res that wouldn't even bat an eye at the threat of such a weak ass old fashion punishment. Oh my God! Now I really have heard everything. Forget the wooden stakes, crosses and garlic; just break out a ruler and the vamps will head for the hills."

Before he knew what was happening, Jacob found himself grasped firmly by the upper arm and pulled to his feet causing him to drop the bottle of carpet cleaner that he had been holding. A sudden burning sensation engulfed his right butt cheek taking his breath away as he tried in vain to tuck his tail further under his body to protect it. He found himself released for a split second and spun around before both of his biceps were caught in that same firm grip as before.

Once his head stopped spinning from the sudden motion, Jacob realized that he was face to face with a fairly annoyed Carlisle Cullen.

"Jacob Black, you listen to me and you listen well. Just as my children are required to show you respect, I expect you to show them the same in return. I am not in the habit of disciplining another man's child, but I will make an exception if you continue to antagonize the members of my family."

Emmett raised his brows and looked over at Edward. _That looked like discipline to me. What do you think?_

Edward snorted softly and lowered his gaze to his suffering mate.

"Now, Rosalie will be down any moment. You will not comment on her punishment. You will not tease or provoke her in anyway. While I don't care to punish you myself, I have no problem with speaking to your father about your misbehavior. Should it continue after that; well, my lad, you will find out just why 'big old bad ass vampires fear a little spanking.' Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, Sir. I've got it."

"Excellent."

Carlisle released his hold on the youth and took a deep breath to calm himself while Jacob vigorously rubbed at the vicious flaming sting in his backside.

"Damn, Carlisle, you didn't have to go all ape shit like that. What the fuck?"

Jacob quickly drew back as the patriarch's forefinger pointed towards his face. "And that stops this instant. I don't want to hear it anymore, Jacob. I have a brand new bar of soap that will be over joyed to help clean that mouth up for you."

A groan from Emmett told Jacob that Carlisle was not joking. The shape shifting boy held both hands up defensively to shield himself from the irritated vampire. "No, it's okay. Lesson learned."

"I truly hope so. Now please finish with this clean up as soon as possible. You have cleaner all over the place."

"Yes, Sir." With a wince, Jacob crouched down and began sopping up the spilled cleanser with a towel while the bruin continued to work on the mustard stain.

Shooting his brother a look of amusement, Emmett grinned broadly and winked. _And Dad got onto me about pointing out the dog's low IQ? Maybe now he will believe me because that was a really dumbass move if ever I saw one. I know Dumbass better than anyone.  
_

"Intimately." Edward smiled and nodded ever so slightly before light footsteps on the stairs commanded the attention of the room.


	2. Obedience Training

Esme shook her head sadly as she slowly mounted the stairs. The matriarch was not looking forward to the task that she had assigned herself, but it was something that she felt had to be done. Rosalie's and Jacob's little feuding game had gone on far too long and her daughter's inhospitable behavior would cease this evening.

The verbal sparring of carelessly thrown barbs was bad enough, but to actually treat Jacob, a guest in their home, like a dog was stepping well beyond the boundary of teasing into utter rudeness. Esme gritted her teeth in aggravation as the deplorable incident flashed through her mind's eye. How dare Rosalie act that way and within seconds of having confirmed that she wouldn't be an inhospitable hostess, at that? Her daughter's incivility was appalling, but Esme felt flagrantly lied to and that had been the final straw.

Heading toward Rose's room, Esme glanced at Carlisle's study door. Maybe she should allow him to handle Rose's insolence. The matriarch thought for a moment before shaking the thought from her head; no, that wouldn't be right. Punishing the children was a heartbreakingly arduous task that always seemed to be pushed off on Carlisle. He had more than enough on his plate with trying to find a solution to ease Bella's suffering. Since the shocking discovery of their newest daughter's pregnancy, the doctor had barely taken a moment for himself. Even before the wolf siege, Carlisle had forgone feeding to spend countless hours buried in dusty tomes of forgotten medicinal theory and folklore searching for an explanation and possible positive outcome to this event. With his research continually failing him, Esme had watched her mate become more frustrated with himself, the situation and his inability to control it.

No, her lover was going through quite enough. It would be cruel to ask him to tackle this unpleasant task when there was no need to involve him. Rosalie had been blatantly disrespectful and her mother would address the behavior herself.

Standing quietly at the study door Esme made up her mind, but felt that Carlisle should be kept abreast of the situation. He included her in all of his decisions that pertained to the children, so it would be only right to include him in hers. She would make it clear to him that she was handling their impertinent daughter on her own owing to the fact that she had been the one most offended. The matriarch knew that she could always count on her mate's support, but she found herself needing the reassurance of his words just the same.

As she was reaching out to knock on the heavy wooden door it quite suddenly opened and, much to her surprise, Esme found herself face to face with her wheaten haired son. As soon as their eyes locked, Jasper looked down and tugged at the hem of his waistcoat showing clear signs of distress. It was at that moment that Esme noticed that her solider boy was not quite in uniform.

"Jazz, where are your pants, baby?" Even though the words were softly spoken, Esme's shocked tone did nothing to alleviate the Major's self-consciousness.

"Umm." He swallowed hard while shifting his weight back and forth before closing his eyes tightly as the embarrassment grew too great for him to bear. "Being under lockdown due to these flea bitten varmints has caused my sweet Alice to flip out a bit, Momma. She has been going through my clothes and tossing everything that she deems 'last month's fashion' into a heap to be donated to charity. My little darlin' is planning on a major shopping spree to replace my out of style threads once this siege lifts. Until then, it appears that I'm going to be having a few not so minor wardrobe malfunctions."

"But, Son, your pants."

"Yes, ma'am. Believe me, I know." He shook his head sadly while jerking harder at his shirt tails and waistcoat to preserve some fraction of his remaining dignity. "Every pair I tried to put on got yanked out of my hand and added to the pile. They were too faded, too ripped, not stylish enough. Too baggy. Too skinny. Didn't do a decent job of hugging my butt well enough to please my commanding officer. " He finally forced himself to glance up and meet his mother's sympathetic loving gaze. "It would appear that I don't own a single pair of pants that are Alice approved at this time. I was lucky to get out of there with my favorite shirt and vest; which, I might add, Alice was eying in a most disapproving manner. I just thank the good Lord above that my drawers never quite go out of fashion or I would have a serious problem on my hands."

Esme covered her mouth to suppress a slight giggle at her son's predicament. Seeing how horrified Jasper was at being partially clothed, the matriarch forced her face into a neutral expression, but there was little she could do to buffer her sensitive son from the waves of mirth that she knew she was giving off.

"I'm sure that Alice means well, Honey. Did you try explaining to her that you needed at least a few pairs of pants until she can buy you something more suitable?"

Jasper muttered a softly, "Yes, ma'am, but she wasn't having it. You know how Alice can get just as well as anybody. Once my buttercup puts her mind to something there isn't a damn thing that can change it."

"Oh, I know someone who has managed to be successful at changing Alice's mind on several occasions." Esme quirked a brow as she glanced past Jasper into the study. "Is that what brought you to see your father? Were you enlisting his help with bringing Alice around?"

Shock clearly shown in Jasper's darkened eyes. "No, ma'am. I don't want Papa getting after my sweet Alice. I'd sooner just go buck nekkid before I'd land my sweetheart into any sort of trouble. It's not so bad really; what's she's done and all. She's just bored with being caged up. You can't lock a free spirit up and not expect there to be some sort of repercussions. She'll be right as rain as soon as we find a way to get things back to normal. There's no reason at all to involve Papa."

Esme looked confused once more. "Then what were you doing, Son? Surely, you didn't find yourself in any sort of trouble. I know that the emotional landscape must be adding stress to you, but..."

"I needed some pants, Momma," Jasper muttered in mild exasperation. "That's all. Papa was my best bet seeing as Edward's are a bit too tight and Emmett... well I aint build like a linebacker so we don't exactly share the same size either. Papa is a closer fit so I stopped in to ask if I could run a little raid on his closet."

Esme finally nodded her head in understanding. "Then I suppose you should get on with your raid, Major, but do make sure to hide your bounty carefully. I don't think your father will be very amiable if Alice begins to dispose of his things as well."

"She'll be only too happy to buy him new ones."

"There isn't a doubt in my mind that she would. Still…."

"Yes, ma'am. I've got it. I'll be careful, Momma, and I'll make sure to borrowing something that won't clash with my shirt. I can't have my little lovebug getting upset, after all." He rolled his eyes a bit as a mischievous grin curled his lips.

"I saw that, Major Whitlock!" Alice's lyrical voice called out a bit too sharply from the bedroom across the hall.

"Great. " The southerner sighed as he moved to step around Esme to make his way to his parent's room when a shudder went through him that chilled the venom in his veins. Stopping, he turned his puzzled gaze on his mother.

"Are you alright, " the southerner asked with genuine concern.

"Yes, Honey, I'm fine."

"That ruckus that I heard just a bit ago. Something happened with Rose, didn't it?"

Esme sucked her bottom lip between her teeth as she stared into the youth's eyes. With a quiet sigh she nodded. "No offense, love, but I would prefer not to discuss this with anyone except your father."

"But I might be able to help, Momma." The sincere desire to be of assistance was reflected in Jasper's expression. "I heard some clattering and then Rose stomped herself upstairs. I wanted to try to calm her, but usually she reacts poorly to my interference so I didn't even attempt it. Tell me what happened, Momma? Maybe I can go talk to her and soothe things over with Rose for you. Let's face it, when we're all trapped together like this, gettin' on each other's nerves is easy as falling off a log and just as potentially disastrous."

"I appreciate that you want to help, Baby, but right now it would be best for you to just to stay out of it."

"But, I really think that I can…."

"You heard your mother the first time, Jasper. She shouldn't have to repeat herself."

Jasper glanced over at the soft spoken patriarch as he leaned against the door frame in a relaxed manner with his arms folded over his chest. At his father's quiet reprimand, the boy hung his head in shame.

"Young man, you know better than that."

Esme laid a hand on her mate's arm. "He just thought that he could help, Carlisle. There was no harm done."

"I'm sorry, Momma. I shouldn't have pried. Papa is right to remind me of my manners and now that I know you're in good hands, I'll just be going." While still holding his head low, Jasper glanced up at Carlisle and received a little nod of dismissal before he vanished down the hallway.

"Really, Carlisle, there was no need for that."

"As well-meaning as our children may be, they need to learn to accept when their assistance is not desired. I'm just not in the mood to tolerate any disrespect right now, my Love and our boy's continual pressuring was disrespectful."

Esme brushed her hand through her mate's thick fair hair as she issued a sad sigh. "Then you are not going to be in the mood to hear what I've got to say."

Carlisle raised a brow as he studied his wife. "Young lady, don't tell me that you've been sent to see me for being disrespectful?"

His serious expression gave way to a playfulness that Esme would have much preferred to entertain in lieu of her current agenda.

"Let's step inside for a minute, Carlisle." She gave a little nod towards the open door before sliding past him into the study.

The sparkle in his eyes faded as quickly as it had appeared. "This sounds serious, A Chumann." Carlisle followed his mate and closed the door gently behind them. "What's happened?"

Taking a seat before her mate's desk, Esme rubbed at her forehead as she suppressed a groan.

Pulling the other guest chair over towards her, her husband took a seat as he watched his wife expectantly.

"You know, I might be the only person in this house who isn't afraid to come in here."

Carlisle smiled and nodded as he laid his hand lightly on his mate's knee. "It doesn't seem to bother Jasper too badly though since he'll willingly come on in to borrow a book now and again. Apparently to borrow slacks as well."

"We might want to talk to Alice about that."

"I'll talk to her in a little while. Now tell me what is going on that has you so anxious, my love." He ran a hand lovingly through her hair as he silently encouraged her to look at him.

Esme took a deep breath while she allowed herself to become lost in her mate's shimmering black eyes. "It's Rosalie, Carlisle. Her behavior was atrocious and it has to stop now. She was incredibly rude towards Jacob which was also disrespectful towards me."

Carlisle's mate quickly filled him in on the details of the incident, but found herself dismayed when a light smile graced his handsome face.

"This is not humorous, Carlisle. Rosalie deliberately disobeyed me and I won't stand for it. She lied to me."

"I don't know that I would go that far, darling. She did agree not to spit in his food and kept her word," he offered lightheartedly only to find that his mate not in the least bit amused. Clearing his throat, the patriarch shook his head as he turned serious. "No, of course it's not amusing, nor should you accept Rose's behavior. Don't worry, love. I'm positive that nothing like this will happen again. I feel certain that our daughter was just having a little fun and trying to break some of the tension that we have all been laboring under, but there is no good excuse for the disrespect that she has shown you. I'll go have a little chat with Rosalie and enlighten her to the error of her ways."

"You will do nothing of the sort, Carlisle Cullen."

Carlisle drew slightly back as his brow furrowed while he focused on his mate with questioning eyes.

"I will take care of this myself. I only wanted to make sure that you remained in the loop with what is happening. You have enough on your mind right now. Struggling with Bella's health issues is taking its toll on you and I won't have you shouldering more responsibility. This is my cross to bear and I will see it through. "

Her husband looked unconvinced and more than slightly worried. "Sweetheart, you know there really is no way that you can effectively ground Rose for her behavior or take away any privileges. We all apparently are being punished with restriction at this time."

"I realize that, Carlisle."

He heaved a heavy sigh. "Perhaps a stern warning will …."

"She has been warned quite enough. As you well know, this is hardly the first incident between those two and they have both been reprimanded on numerous occasions. Rosalie needs to learn when enough is enough, as does Jacob. I will have a little conference with him a bit later. It's far too easy for this game of theirs to get out of hand and cause tempers to flare. With no decent way to work off that agitation or get distance from each other, what starts as playful could turn ugly very quickly. They both need to understand that and act accordingly."

Carlisle mulled over his wife's words for a few moments then ran his hand through his hair before giving a slight nod. "Of course, Sweetheart, but at least allow me to speak with the boy."

Esme began to protest, but Carlisle waved a hand to cut her off.

"It should come from me since it would be me to whom he would answer. I will not put you in harm's way, Esme. I don't believe that Jacob would intentionally hurt you, but we don't know how he might react in the event that his behavior does require correction. Should he lose control and phase…." A phantom chill raced up Carlisle's spine.

Esme gently patted his forearm. "He won't lose control. He's a sweet boy, but if it makes you feel better."

Her mate nodded. "Some risks are never worth taking."

The matriarch graced her loving husband with a light smile before she leaned over and kissed his cheek. "With you at my side, Doctor Cullen, I know that no harm could ever come to me."

Sitting back in her chair, she let out a quiet sigh. "I guess I need to bite the bullet and get this over with."

"Esme, I will handle it," he offered a final time.

"No, Carlisle. They are my children and my responsibility as much as they are yours. Rose and I will muddle through. It's not as though I haven't been on the receiving end of her temper before."

A low growl rumbled in Carlisle's chest at his mate's words, but Esme simply stood to leave causing him to mirror her actions.

"I'll go make sure that Emmett doesn't intrude. He is generally not given to overprotectiveness, but then again he has never had to stay in the house before during one of these rare occurrences."

"I'm not going to be that hard on her, Carlisle. I just need to get my point across."

"I know, sweetheart." He slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his embrace as she reached the study door. Gazing lovingly into her eyes he spoke softly. "But you know that it doesn't take much to set us off when we feel that our mate is in danger. I would be a raging beast if I was in Em's shoes. We can't afford to accept that behavior, but I understand it entirely." He tapped the pad of his finger to the tip of her nose. "You are everything to me, and I hate to see you put yourself through this. I really wish that you would let me deal with Rosalie."

Esme drew her mate into a long deep kiss before reluctantly pulling away. "If you punish Rose then I have to be the one to wrangle Emmett. I don't like those odds. Just looks like a way for things to go from bad to worse." She rubbed her hand gently over Carlisle's cheek as she offered her mate a sad smile. "Go see to our son. Rosalie and I will be just fine."

"If you change your mind or you need me…."

Pushing him gently away she shook her head. "You know that I am fairly formidable, Doctor Cullen, but I will still keep your offer in mind. Now let me go before I lose my nerve."

"But that's why I'm working so hard to delay you." He reached out for her, but Esme ducked away from his grasp.

"I should have known you had some sort of personal agenda." She gave her mate a wink. "Now go on downstairs before I warm up for Rose by practicing on you, young man."

The matriarch landed a playful smack to her lover's backside before quickly turning away and wandering down the hall towards her daughter's bedroom with confidence in her stride.

Shaking his head at his wife's spunk, Carlisle gave a quiet groan as he headed towards the stairs following the sounds of his sons' muted voices.

* * *

"Come in," Rosalie called out in response to the soft knock on her bedroom door as she sat on the bed wrapped in a plush emerald robe as she towel dried her golden hair. Looking up, she was slightly shocked to see her mother step lightly into the room and close the door behind her. Esme's disappointed expression caused the young woman's mouth to go dry, but Rose forced the foreboding feeling away. Without a doubt her mother was here to give her a good dressing down and rather suddenly Rose felt her mood begin to sour.

"Before you say anything, I know that you don't approve, but the mongrel had it coming. He's been asking for it all evening."

"And what have you been asking for, Rosalie?"

Esme kept her voice soft and low hoping that if she remained calm her daughter would follow her lead, but instead her calmness seemed to spur Rosalie on to greater agitation.

"I beg your pardon? I'll have you know that I was minding my own business when you ordered me to feed the mutt. It was you who felt the need to involve me, so all of this is your fault, Esme."

Esme closed her eyes for a moment to collect her thoughts. "Rose, I don't think my asking you to see to the needs of our guest should cause you any great hardship. It is common courtesy and nothing more."

"Then why couldn't you just do it yourself? Why do I have to always be the one to dirty my hands with that irritating canine ? I never wanted a dog in the first place. I wasn't the one who brought him home, so why is it my job to feed him, clean up after him and take him for his walks?"

Esme's jaw clenched for just a second before she softly hissed, "Rosalie, that is quite enough. I've had it with your insolence."

"Oh like that's a shock, mother." Rosalie rolled her eyes as she stood and made her way over towards the adjoining bathroom. "You know you really shouldn't hide your feelings like that. It's not healthy to keep them bottled up."

"Rosalie Lillian Cullen, where do you think that you're going?"

The teen stopped and glanced at her mother with a raised brow. "I need to brush my hair out."

"The only thing that you need to do, young lady is retake your seat. I have not dismissed you."

"This is my room, if you haven't noticed. I hardly need anyone's permission to do as I please in it."

"Then perhaps you would care to take this discussion to your father's study. I'm certain that he won't mind and there are fewer distractions to steal your attention."

Esme could have sworn that her daughter paled at the mention of Carlisle's study, but the girl effectively squelched her trepidation as she glared at her mother through narrowed eyes.

"How dare you threaten me."

"Don't take it as a threat, Rosalie. It's just a simple fact. Either you sit down and talk to me in a civilized manner, or you can continue acting like a spoiled child and force me to involve your father. Either way the end result will be the same; you will eventually have to talk to me." Esme held her daughter's glare. "Now, please sit down, Rosalie."

A nearly silent growl rumbled in the fair haired woman's throat as she stubbornly stood her ground.

"Rosalie, I will not ask you again."

"Good. Then this meeting is over. Please feel free to show yourself out. I trust that you can find the door, mother." With a dismissive toss of her head the obstinate blonde turned her back on Esme and stalked towards the bathroom once again only to find her progress impeded by a delicate hand firmly gripping her shoulder. "Let go."

The loud crack of her mother's palm against her backside echoed in the room moments before Rose registered the stinging pain. Shrugging off the hand that impeded her movement, the teen rubbed away the burning sting while snarling at her eerily calm disciplinarian.

"Rosalie Lillian, you are too smart to act this foolishly. I have never known you to so completely refuse to acknowledge your wrong doing. You can't honestly tell me that you believe that what you did to Jacob was acceptable."

"It was more acceptable then the time he chewed up my shoes. Or… I don't know, how about the time he put that dead skunk in my car? I understand that Jacob doesn't have to follow the same rules of respect that the rest of us do, but I don't see why I should have to give him respect when he doesn't show me any. Please enlighten me, Mother because that doesn't seem fair in the least."

Esme's expression remained neutral, but inwardly she groaned. As disappointed as she was with her daughter, Rose's argument was irrefutable. The matriarch's sense of fairness was demanding that she concede and allow her Rosalie's behavior slide once again, but hadn't that been what she and Carlisle had been doing all this time in the hopes that she and Jacob would eventually grow weary of their games? Instead, the insults and pranks had escalated into what she now felt obliged to correct before it grew any further.

Folding her arms, Esme calmly surveyed her hellcat of a daughter. This stand-off was the direct result of her and Carlisle's inaction and as much as she hated it, she knew what had to be done.

"Rosalie, I do understand your view completely, but your father and I are not responsible for Jacob. He has certainly not been helpful to the situation and Carlisle is going to have a word with him about that; however you could have been the bigger person and not allowed him to rile you up. He is nothing but a child, Rose while you are a mature young woman. You have allowed him to drag you down to his level and I'm sorry that it doesn't seem fair, but I am going to put a stop to the foolishness. Had you taken the high road and walked away, he would have become bored and stopped. Instead you've acted childish and now you get to reap the reward for your disobedience."

"What disobedience? You asked me to feed him so I did. What more do you want?"

"Rosalie, you know that your behavior was inappropriate. You are very well aware of how a guest should be treated in this house."

"He's not a guest. He's a mange riddled stray who keeps hanging around because you feed him."

"ROSALIE! That's quite enough. I am through putting up with this insubordination." Esme's eyes flashed before she regained control over her frustration. "I can see that talking isn't going to do a bit of good so I guess we might as well just cut to the chase." Quickly capturing her daughter's wrist the matriarch issued a firm, "Let's go" as she made her way over towards the bed.

Too stunned to resist, Rose following along until her mother took a seat making her intent suddenly perfectly clear to the wide eyed youth. With a shake of her head, Rosalie yanked her wrist free from her mother's grasp and took several steps back.

"You must be out of your flaming mind. You can't be serious. You can't do this; not here and certainly not now." The girl's words came out in a low hiss as she became aware of her precarious situation.

"I most certainly can and will." Esme tapped her foot against the floor in irritation. "Young Lady, you have gone out of your way to earn yourself a good hard spanking. My plan was for something much milder to give you a little motivation to straighten your act out, but if you insist on fighting with me I will give you what you deserve."

"But…but… Emmett is in the house."

"You father will handle any issues involving your mate."

The look in Rosalie's eyes turned from anger to mortification as she lowered her voice to the barest of whispers. "What about Bella and Jacob?"

"What cannot be cured must be endured." As her errant daughter continued to stare at her, Esme sighed softly. "Rose, if it helps any to know this, your father gave Bella a mild sedative to help with the pain. She is completely incognizant at this time so there should be no issues where she is concerned."

"But, Jac…."

"There is nothing that can be done about that. If we ask him to step out of the house we will be putting him in danger. The pack would very likely harm him if they catch him alone."

Rosalie swallowed hard as she silently pleaded with her mother.

"Honey, if you had not fought me, this would already have been over and there would have been a good chance that Jacob would be as oblivious to our discussion as Bella. By now, I can only assume that raised voices have put him on alert so all bets to that end are off. You will just have to accept it, but you know that we will not tolerate him teasing you over your punishment."

The young woman turned her face away from her mother as she scoffed. "Like you can stop him."

"You father will do whatever he must to bring Jacob in line. As much as Bella seems to need him, if he can't behave himself we will ask him to leave and Carlisle will have a talk with Billy before Jacob is allowed to step foot back in this house. Rose, this childish competition to outdo each other through insults and pranks has to stop; at least for now. We are all under a great deal of stress and I'm sure that part of the teasing between you is an attempt to relieve some of that pressure, but you are in danger of taking things too far. If it continues someone is going to get hurt. Maybe not physically, but emotional trauma is often much worse." Esme took a breath before allowing the hurt that she was feeling to have the freedom to color her tone. "If that wasn't bad enough, Rose, you lied to me."

The blonde snapped her full attention towards her mother. "I would never…."

"But you did. When I told Jacob that you would never embarrass me with a lack of hospitality, you were quick to affirm that fact, but what did you do? Actions speak louder than words, Honey. You insulted Jacob and in doing so proved what little respect you have for me."

Rose's gaze hardened at the accusation, but her eyes glistened as venom welled up within them. The youth crossed her arms, raised her head slightly and closed her eyes as she fought back the tears brought on by the pain of her mother's words.

"I was only trying to have some fun."

"I know, Sweetheart."

Rose cleared her throat before she leveled her gaze back upon her mother. "It is never my intention to show you disrespect. I have a great deal of respect for you, Esme. I regret that I made you believe that I don't."

Esme crooked her finger and motioned for Rosalie to come closer.

Take a breath, Rosalie crossed the short distance that separated her from her mother.

Gently grasping her daughter's hands in her own, Esme looked up at Rose with a stern expression. "I don't want to ever have this discussion with you again, Rosalie. I know for a fact that you know how to behave. I'm not saying that I don't expect you and Jacob to have moments of playful teasing, but you need to realize when it has gone on long enough. He's a young boy still. I expect you to set the example for him to follow and know when to call a truce."

Rose nodded before she found herself eased across her mother's lap.

_Oh for Christ's sake._

Gripping handfuls of the comforter tightly, the young woman swore to herself that she wouldn't make a sound. She wouldn't give that damn mutt the satisfaction of hearing her cry nor did she want her mate any more distressed than he must already be. She felt a cool rush of air against her shower warmed skin as her mother flipped the robe up to uncover her backside. Burying her face in the crook of her arm, Rose held her breath as she waited for the first smack to land. She wouldn't wait long.

A half a dozen quick stinging swats and the girl felt herself shifted back up and onto her feet. She gave her mother a confused look prompting Esme to order softly.

"Rosalie, go get your hairbrush and bring it back."

A long forgotten memory of her human youth flashed vividly in the girl's mind's eye causing her to swallow nervously as she held her mother's gaze.

"Rose? Go on. Your brush. Go get it."

Rosalie's feet felt like lead as she shuffled into the bathroom and gathered the heavy hard ebony wood brush. She had long been fond of the sturdy antique tool, but now she found herself regretting its inclusion in her personal items. She wasn't sure if it would hold up against her hard flesh, but she was certain that it would hurt like hell when it broke across her behind. As she made her way back towards her mother she swore silently that the first thing she would do would be to buy one of those new plastic backed numbers that wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell against her rear.

As the downtrodden young woman reluctantly approached her mother, Esme held her hand out expectantly. Rose inhaled deeply and raised her head to look her mother in the eye. She had never been a coward and the youth was not about to act like one now. Swallowing back her nervousness, she gently placed the implement into Esme's outstretched hand.

"Come here, Rose."

Esme pushed back slightly on the bed before pulling her daughter onto her lap. Shifting the girl at bit to make sure that she was comfortable, the matriarch began to slowly and carefully work the knots out of the silky shimmering tresses.

"Rosalie, I don't expect us to have an issue like this again, but if we do you will answer to me and then to your father. Are we clear on this point? I'm not trying to threaten you, Baby. I just want you to be aware of the repercussions of this sort of behavior."

"Yes, ma'am." Rose felt herself begin to relax as if hypnotized by her mother's gentle brushing.

"Good, and I will be expecting you to offer an apology to Jacob." She felt her daughter tense for a second before she nodded. "Baby, if Jacob begins to take things too far and gives you problems I want you to come to either Carlisle or me, especially right now. A little joking around is fine, but too much given how tense everyone is…."

"I understand, Mom. I can't honestly say that I'm sorry for what I did, but I get the point that we were getting out of hand. What I do regret is upsetting you." Tears pooled in the young woman's eyes at the thought of having hurt her mother.

"Shh. It's all forgiven, Rose. We'll just chalk it up to live and learn, alright?"

A gentle knock resounded on the bedroom door.

Wiping a tear away, Rose cleared her throat before offering a quiet. "Come in."

As the door cracked open, Carlisle's head popped inside. "I just wanted to check on my girls."

A slight smile from his adoring mate immediately put his mind at ease.

"Is everything okay, Kitten?"

"It will be once I figure out how I'm going to apologize to the mutt."

"Rosalie." Esme admonished softly.

"Mom, he is still a dog. My behavior, right or wrong, will never change that fact. You'll probably have to spray the house for fleas when he leaves."

"Maybe we should give him a bath and flea dip." Carlisle remarked with a wink that caused his daughter to smile.

"Carlisle, you are not helping."

"It was just a thought, my love."

"Which should have been kept to yourself, young man, unless you want to be the next one over my knee," Esme rebuked firmly as she pointed the hairbrush in her mate's direction.

Carlisle held his hands up in surrender. "I'll be good."

"You had better be." Esme gave him a stern look before the faintest of smiles crossed her lips. "Now get yourself out of here and let your daughter get dressed. She has a little unfinished business to take care of down stairs."

"Yes, ma'am." The patriarch snapped to attention at his wife's command.

Rosalie did her best to stifle a laugh, but her glittering eyes gave her amusement away. "We'll be down in a few minutes, Daddy."

"Alright, Kitten. I need to go check on the boys anyway. I left Emmett and Jacob cleaning up the mess. Can only imagine how that will turn out. With those two, they are liable to cause more damage than they fix." He rolled his eyes as he gave a soft sigh. "We'll be looking for you to join us soon."

With a final smile of encouragement, Carlisle ducked back out of the room closing the door behind him.

Esme just shook her head in dismay. "At least we know where you get it from. You can tell that it is your father's venom that runs in your veins."

"You have the same venom."

"Well that's true." Esme thought for a moment. "I guess I can just control it a bit better."

Rose shifted around to catch her mother's eye. "I don't know about that. You have your moments, Momma, and you know it."

Esme gasped in shock. "I do not."

"Oh, really? Don't try to act all innocent or should I go ask Jasper about the time…"

* * *

**AN**: Yeah, Rose got off very light, but Esme felt bad about Rosalie having to take the brunt of the punishment while Jacob walks free. That sense of fair play raised its head so Esme just went with a bit of a wake up call and a stern warning. Hopefully that will be enough to check Rose's future endeavors though that is still questionable.

There is also a chance that this story might go on a tad bit longer than planned. There is talk of a clash between the Major and the Mutt. Not sure on that one, but...

Thanks for everything, guys. You all are the best and I have exciting news. "Dark Justice" has been nominated for "Most Promising in canon Twilight Fanfic" in the Energize WIP Awards. How cool is that? I'm interesting to see how it does up against more main stream stories so keep your fingers crossed and feel free to cast a vote if you get a chance. ;-) Voting starts on the 13th. *happy squeal* You guys know that it is your support that has made that possible. *hugs*

Special thanks to my super beta, Splinter. I would be much more insane than I already am if it wasn't for her.


	3. Pound Puppy

Rose stopped on the last step with her proud head slightly bowed.

"I can't do this," she whispered quietly to herself before her mother's hand came to rest gently on her shoulder to give her a reassuring squeeze.

"Yes you can, darling." Esme responded in a calm quiet tone. "And the sooner you do so the sooner this episode can be dropped." With that she gave her daughter a gentle nudge to encourage her on her way.

"Are you okay, Rosie?" Emmett quickly stood and went towards the stairs only to be warned away by his mate's sharp hiss. Taking a step back the bruin's eyes grew wide at the unusual display. "What's wrong, Babe? Tell me and I'll fix it."

"I think you've done quite enough, Emmett," the flaxen haired beauty growled angrily.

"What did I do?"

"Well you sure didn't defend me when that..."

"Rosalie." Esme's voice carried a warning which caused her daughter to rein in her attitude slightly.

Clearing her throat, Rose continued. "When Jacob hit me on the back of the head with that bowl. All you did was laugh it up right along with Edward like a pair of hyenas. Do you really think that is how a husband should act? Or a brother for that matter?"

Edward glanced away from his sister and busied himself with tending to his own mate while being silently bombarded by a barrage of words that he knew Rose would never dare to utter in the presence of their parents.

Emmett lowered his head in shame, but glanced up at his wife with a sheepish grin on his boyish face. "Sorry, Babe, but it was kinda funny. Besides, I knew that you could handle things and didn't want to get in the way."

"Emmett just because I can handle it doesn't mean... Oh, never mind."

Rose threw her hand up to silence her mate before he could say anything else that might increase her irritation. This was already not going well and she didn't need it to turn worse. All she was required to do was to apologize to the mutt and then she would be free to return to her room and some much needed peace and quiet.

_I can do this._ Taking a deep breath, Rose took the final step off the stairs when a barking comment from the mongrel caused her to freeze in place.

"Sounds like somebody is sleeping in the doghouse tonight. " Jacob slapped Emmett on the back. "Dude, you better start doing some serious sucking up to Blondie if you want to hit ..."

"Jacob Black, don't you dare finish that sentence," Esme scolded from her spot still on the stairs.

"Too bad he had already finished the thought." Edward's face took on a look of utter disgust as he shook his head in a vain attempt to clear it. "Came with visuals, too. Thanks a lot, Jake. I owe you big time."

"Not a prob," Jacob answered with a satisfied smirk.

Rosalie suddenly turned her piercingly cold glare on Jacob. "Well, you would know all about being in the doghouse; wouldn't you, Fido?"

"Rosalie Lillian, you will mind your manners or your next stop will be my study," Carlisle quietly reinforced his wife's previous warning from the upper landing before quickly descending the stairs to stand with his mate. When Rose continued to glower angrily at their guest Carlisle gave a subtle cough to gain her attention. "Kitty, do you and I really need to have this discussion? I suggest you think for a moment before you say or do anything else."

Closing her eyes, Rose exhaled a held breath before shaking her head slowly as a rush of calm came over her. "No, Father; we don't need to discuss anything." Glancing back towards Carlisle and Esme, Rose noticed Jasper and Alice standing at the top of the stairs. Seeing a worried expression in her brother's dark eyes, the blonde gave him a faint smile and nodded once in acknowledgement of the soldier's assistance causing him to dip his head in return.

Put on his guard by Rosalie's formality, the patriarch watched his daughter carefully for any signs of residual hostility. Finding none, he allowed his defensiveness to fade as he wrapped an arm over his mate's shoulder and felt her relax as she leaned against him. "Good. Then I believe your mother has asked you to do something. I think it would be wise to acknowledge her wishes."

_Fine! I'll throw the damn dog a bone._ "Yes, Daddy."

Edward snickered softly, but not soft enough to avoid drawing attention.

"Do you have something that you wish to add, Son?" Carlisle inquired as he cocked a brow at his first born while noticing the pleading look that Rosalie was giving her brother.

The gifted bronze haired boy shook his head. "No, Carlisle. I think you guys have everything wrapped up just fine and hardly need my two cents. I'll gladly stay out of this conversation." Bella whimpered quietly in her sleep commanding his attention for a moment before he added, "But there is something that I need to say to Rose." Lifting his gaze from his charge, he caught his sister's eye." Rose, I really need to apologize. I'm sorry that I laughed. You are absolutely correct; that isn't how siblings should act and I hope that you forgive me. I think that you should also know that Em was not really amused at your expense. For him it was much more of a stress reaction because he wasn't sure how to react and didn't want to possibly make the situation worse so please don't hold it against him."

Edward found himself suddenly punched hard in the upper arm. His bearish brother was standing next to him in a spot that was empty moments before with a broad grin on his face. "Thanks, Bro."

"Don't mention it, Em," Edward replied as he rubbed the sore spot on his arm. "You could do me a favor though."

"Anything, Eddie. Just ask."

"Could you edit your thoughts a bit when I'm around? Some of the things that go on in there…." Edward shuddered.

"Can I help it if my mind is an adult only zone? Rated X, Bro."

"More like rated Y as in 'why' would you even think of something like that?"

"Eternity is a long time to just suffer the same old, same old. Gotta spice it up. Know what I mean?" Emmett wiggled his eyebrows as his smile grew even wider.

Edward lowered his head and covered his eyes with his hand. "Unfortunately I do which is why I would prefer you not to share your thoughts so freely."

Carlisle cleared his throat. "If it makes you uncomfortable, Son…."

"I know. I know that I should give him his privacy, but he pretty much screams these things at me. It's hard not to see them."

"Try harder," was the elder's simple advice as he dismissed his son from further conversation by returning attention to his fair haired daughter. "Kitty?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes briefly before giving in. "I forgive you, Edward and I'm sorry that I railed at you. It was just … upsetting."

"What about me, Babe? Forgive me?"

Rose sighed. "We'll talk about it later."

Emmett smirked as his eyes lit up with mischief. "Kiss and make up? Hmm? We could do that sooner rather than later."

"Later,Em," Rose stated a little more firmly as she heard Edward groan.

"Then I guess I'll just head up stairs since I'm not needed down here right now. You know where to find me when you want me, Babe." Emmett pouted as he headed past his wife, but stopped to give her a kiss on the cheek before mounting the steps to slip by his parents.

"That boy is incorrigible." Carlisle shook his head as he heard the bruin's bedroom door shut.

"They all are, Carlisle." Esme smiled. "They take after their father."

Carlisle made a move to protest, but his mate quickly sidelined him as she quietly encouraged their daughter to complete her task after all the interruptions.

"Jacob, I would like to apologize for my rude behavior. I should have been more sensitive to your feelings and it was wrong of me to try to feed you from the floor. Rest assured that it will not happen again." Rosalie allowed her focus to drop from the young man's face towards the floor as she added in a whisper, "Since it seems that you will be something like another extension of our family, I should treat you as such. Bella finds comfort in you being here and I respect that so it is only right that I show that respect towards you. Friends?"

Rose extended a hand towards Jacob in a gesture of peace as she glanced back up into his warm brown eyes.

Jake cocked his head to the side as he watched Rose intently before glancing at the offered hand as he spoke. "You can put that away. I have no interest in touching you, Ice Queen and I sure as hell don't want to be thought of as an extension of your family. I know that you don't mean a word of what you've said. The only reason that you apologized is because Esme lit into your ass and you don't want another dose. You're not sorry, so don't insult my intelligence in thinking that you can convince me that you are. You only feel sorry for yourself. I don't mind bickering with unfeeling cold hearted bitches like you, actually I find it entertaining, but I can't begin to imagine a world where the two of us could ever be friends so don't even bother."

The Quileute boy turned away from Rose without noticing the glistening of tears in her eyes, but her distress was clearly noted by another one of the observers.

Jasper raised his head a bit as he stiffened. "Jacob, I hardly see any reason for that sort of attitude. Rose just offered you a heartfelt apology and a legitimate ceasefire agreement. I believe that you would be wise to accept and offer your own apology in return."

The young shifter snorted as he waved his hand dismissively. "As if. Blondie doesn't have a heart to give a heartfelt apology. She doesn't feel anything one way or another. Isn't that right, Oh Princess of the Frost?"

Jacob glanced back at Rose as a tear rolled down her cheek. The boy was momentarily shocked by the show of emotions, but recovered quickly. "Oh please, Blondie. No one here is buying that act. You really should go take some theatrical lessons; maybe then you'd be believable."

"Jazzy, don't." Alice reached out to grab her mate, but he easily slipped through her fingers.

In a blur of motion, Jasper leaped from the second floor landing and was in the shape shifter's face before anyone else had a chance to react. Jacob took a stumbling step back as the soldier invaded his personal space.

"What the fuck it your problem, Jasper?"

"I could ask the same of you. You will retract your previous statement and humbly ask Rosalie to forgive your blatant boorishness."

"Or what? What are you going to do?" Jacob shoved both hands against the southerner's chest, pushing the soldier back.

Ignoring the physical affront, but not the verbal challenge, Jasper growled a challenge of his own. "Try me and find out."

"Jasper! Son, that's quite enough." Carlisle grabbed his boy's upper arm to try to draw him away from the source of his annoyance, but was quickly shaken off.

Without acknowledging his father in anyway, the Major took a step closer towards Jacob. "That was uncalled for, Wolf. Maybe you never learned any better so let me educate you now. You NEVER talk to a lady like that. Now apologize and pray to God that she has the grace to overlook your ignorance and accept your apology."

"You know something; you're right. That is no way to talk to a lady, but I wasn't talking to a lady now was I? I was talking to a spiteful bitch."

"Jacob!" Esme's admonishment was drowned out by the sound of the back of Jasper's hand colliding violently with Jacob's cheek.

Within seconds a large russet wolf stood snarling in the middle of the room with its hackles raised glaring dangerously at a battle hardened soldier who crouched down prepared to fight.

"Jacob?" A weak voice muttered from the couch. "What's…."

Edward calmly hushed Bella as he slid down on the sofa and cradled her against him.

"Edward, please take Bella upstairs. She doesn't need to be witness to this spectacle. The very last thing she needs right now is additional stress. I'll be up to check on her momentarily."

With a nod Edward gathered his mate in his arms as he easily rose to his feet and headed towards the stairs just skirting the brewing brawl. With the jumble of Jake's angry hurt thoughts and Jasper's ranting buzzing around in his head, the mind reader was only too happy to accept his father's order even though he knew he should stay to help get things sorted out. Taking to the steps as quickly and as carefully as he could, Edward bumped into a descending Emmett.

"Ed, what in the hell is going on?"

"Get down there quick. Dad is going to need all the help he can get. I have to get Bella out of the way."

No further explanation was necessary to send Emmett barreling down the steps to the rescue.

_At least Emmett should be able to hold Jacob back and then Carlisle can control Jasper._ Carlisle's firstborn sighed softly while he climbed the final flight up to his bedroom as his wife began to drift off again in his arms losing her battle for consciousness against the painkilling chemicals. Edward lowered his head to place a soft kiss on her brow. "Sleep, Bella. Everything is okay now. It was all just a bad dream."_ Otherwise known as just your run of the mill day at Masion Du Cullen. _

* * *

Jacob lowered his head and growled loud enough to shake the glass in the window panes, but Jasper only snarled back with contempt of his own.

"Come on, if you think you're man enough. It's about time that someone teaches you some manners."

"Jasper Whitlock Cullen, you stop this instant. You know better than to behave like this." Esme cried over the cacophony of bellowed challenges and responding growls while watching the soldier and the wolf slowly circle as each sized the other up.

"Jasper! Jacob! You've done enough. Cease this insanity instantly." Carlisle stepped between the combatants at the very moment that Jacob charged.

The wolf checked the fair haired elder with his massive shoulder while he bore down on the waiting soldier sending the patriarch flying into Emmett who had just arrived on the scene. At the last second, Jasper slid down on his back upon the carpeted floor and caught Jacob in the stomach with both booted feet sending the animal crashing into the far wall; shattering the flatscreen in the process.

Thick black claws ripped into the carpet as Jacob sought footing to renew his attack.

"Aw, Man! I just cleaned that!"

Carlisle reached out a hand to help his brutish son back to his feet. "I'm afraid that the carpet is the least of our worries." The elder watched as the battle continued with Jasper soaring into the plate glass window after being tossed like a rag doll by the slavering beast who just moments ago had been a fairly well-mannered teen.

Shaking the shards of shatter glass off of himself as he arose from the debris, the Major turned and charged the snarling predator. Ramming a fist hard against the wolf's sensitive nose, Jasper grinned in satisfaction when Jacob yelped in pain and pawed at his muzzle while backing away. As the soldier was drawing his arm back to deliver another powerful blow a sudden foreign sound filled the room.

"ENOUGH!" Carlisle's gentle voice had given away to the Coven Leader's forceful authoritative bellow causing every living creature within ear shot to freeze in its tracks.

"Jasper, Come." The doctor pointed to a spot directly before him as he fixed his son with a hard jet black stare before crossing his arms over his broad chest.

Carefully the boy disentangled himself from the wreckage of the room and slowly made his way over towards his father with his head hung low.

No one drew a breath as Jasper took the final step that put him directly in his father's presence. The room was deadly silent with the exception of Jacob's ragged panting until a broken shard of glass fell free from its casement with a deafening crash which caused the Major to cringe.

Carlisle watched the boy for a few more tense moments before he inhaled deeply. "Is this how you were taught to behave?"

"Nah, Sah."

Jacob kept his head lowered towards the ground, but lifted his eyes to watch the interaction of the two stone-still men as his ears twitched at Jasper's odd enunciation.

"Is this how you show respect towards your mother and I or for the home which we have provided for you?"

Jasper swallowed hard. "Nah, Sah."

"Is it EVER advisable to fight between ourselves?"

"He was insultin' mah sistah." Jasper raised his head and met Carlisle's dark eyes.

"I am well aware of that fact and I am also well aware that you did not answer my question. Must I repeat myself?"

"Nah, Sah." The Major squared his shoulders and clasped his hands behind his back while focusing on a spot just past his leader's shoulder. "We are nevah ta come ta blows."

Carlisle's voice softened while retaining every ounce of authority. "Then what do you call this, Son?"

Jasper chewed on the inside of his cheek as he quickly searched for the best possible answer before settling on a quietly uttered, "Disregard of tha rules, Sah."

The patriarch exhaled in a gentle sigh as he nodded in approval of the boy's answer. With a slight jerk of the head he commanded, "Upstairs. Your room. I'll be up in a little while to finish this discussion."

"Yesh, Sah." Jasper quickly passed Carlisle half expecting a blow that never came before mounting the stairs to disappear from view.

"Daddy?"

Carlisle closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples before responding with a light nod. "You may go to him, Alice."

Emmett looked around the room before issuing a low whistle at the amount of damage the house has sustained. "And here I thought I was the destroyer."

"Jacob and Jasper will be cleaning it up." The elder had turned his focus on the cowering russet wolf. "Since it will take them some time, I suggest that for the sake of comfort, everyone stay in their rooms for the time being."

Emmett snickered as he wrapped an arm around his mate's waist. "I can totally get behind that idea, Pops."

Without having taken his eyes off the wolf, Carlisle ignored his son's innuendo and addressed the animal instead. "Jacob, you will go to the garage and stay there until I come for you. I'll see to it that you have some clothes to change into and I will expect you to return to your human form and stay that way. Jasper is not the only person with whom I will need to have a talk. Now go on."

Jacob whined and flattened his ears to his head as he lowered his body further against the floor. Glancing towards the direction of the garage his whine turned into a pitiful whimper.

"I'll lend a hand, Buddy." Emmett walked over to the door leading into the garage and opened it allowing for Jacob to slink out of the house with his tail between his legs tucked tightly against his belly.

Slithering carefully between the cars, Jacob looked out of the garage window before Emmett's voice called to him and banished the thought that was just beginning to take form.

"Oh and Dude, do yourself a favor and don't even think about running off. Trust me; that is the worse decision you would ever make. We have all been there and some of us have learned that nugget of wisdom the hard way." Unconsciously, Emmett rubbed his backside at the memory as he quietly closed the door leaving Jacob alone with his thoughts.

The bruin returned to his wife's side and began to lead her towards the steps when she stopped and placed a hand on her father's arm.

Carlisle looked away from the ruined room where his lovely mate was busily picking through the debris to retrieve whatever remained salvageable and gazed at the small hand before glancing up to meet his daughter's eyes.

"It was all a misunderstanding. I'm certain that they didn't mean for this to happen. Please try to bear that in mind, Dad and go a little easy on them."

The patriarch smiled gently as he patted Rosalie's hand. "Go easy on both of them?"

The blonde haired beauty nodded. "Jacob is not accustomed to having me apologize to him so I think that caught him off guard. I don't think he completely meant what he said."

"What did he say?" Concern suddenly darkened Emmett's features.

"Nothing important,Sweetie. I'll fill you in once we're alone."

"Something tells me that I should have beaten the stuffing out of Rover."

"Emmett Dale, no one is going to beat the stuffing out of anyone in his house." Esme retorted sharply as she brushed some crumbled bits of porcelain off her hands. "There has been more than enough of that sort of attitude for one day. We are all family and I expect everyone to start acting like it."

"Does that make Jake the family pet?"

"Emmett."

The bruin grinned broadly as he scooped up his mate and raced up the stairs calling out, "It was just a joke, Momma. Just a joke."

Esme shook her head in dismay. "Carlisle what are we going to do?"

"Well tomorrow morning I'll call the glass company to replace the window. The children are simply going to have to stay upstairs until the work is completed. I really hate the idea of bringing humans to the house right now, but there just is no other option. I guess we could simply board it up."

"That's not what I'm talking about. What are we going to do about the tension and the constant bickering? It we can't get a handle on it, they will tear the house down around our heads." Esme covered her face with her hands as tears of frustration sprang to her eyes. "What's happening to our family?"

Carlisle wrapped her arms around his mate and gently led her to one of the few remaining undamaged bits of furniture, an overstuffed arm chair. Sitting down he pulled her into his lap and cuddled her close as he quietly shushed her.

"Our family is strong, A chuisle mo chroí. We've all had our shares of adversity and overcame them. This is just one more challenge for us to conquer together."

"But the pack keeping us from hunting and you running yourself down trying to find some solution for Bella. Then there's Edward. My God, Carlisle, what will happen to him if you can't…?"

"Shh. Don't think on it, Esme. I have to look at things realistically, but I need for the rest of you to try to keep positive. Half the battle is believing that you can win it because as soon as you start to think otherwise, you have already lost. We must stay positive for Bella's sake."

He kissed his beloved's brow and hugged her tighter against his chest.

"We will overcome this, grá mo chroí, and be stronger for it."

A quiet cough drew Carlisle's attention to the foot of the stairs where Alice stood with an armful of clothes. "I didn't mean to disturb you, but I just wanted to make sure that it was okay for me to bring these to Jacob. It's just a few of Jazzy's things that I had put in the giveaway pile. I figured they would fit Jake well enough."

"Of course, Princess. That was very thoughtful. Thank you."

Alice nodded and began to trip lightly towards the garage when she stopped and turned back to her parents. "Momma, don't worry. Everything will be alright."

"Did you have a vision?" Esme's inquiry was hopeful, but her heart sank as her pixie of a daughter shook her head.

"I can't see anything because of the wolves, but I just know that it will be so try not to worry so much." With a glimmer in her eye and a light smile she quickly added, "It will give you wrinkles."

At Carlisle's chuckle, Alice returned to her task and headed out the door into the garage in search of a naked wolf-boy to play dress up with.

* * *

"Let me see how it looks."

"Alice, they are too tight."

"Jacob, come out from behind the Jeep or I'm coming over there and I won't care if you're decent or not."

With a groan, Jacob stepped away from the cars wearing a forest green pullover and black jeans that looked like they were painted on his body.

"Hmm. Can you bend over?"

"Not really."

Alice squinted slightly as she pinched her bottom lip between her teeth before she sighed. "I guess that really doesn't matter anyway. If Daddy decides to blister your bottom it's extremely unlikely that he will let you keep your pants."

Jacob's eyes grew wide as he stared at the helpful little pixie. "He wouldn't really do that, would he?"

"Have you bare your bottom?" Alice gave a little laugh. "After what you did? Of course he would."

"No, I mean spank me at all. He wouldn't really do that."

Alice huffed softly. "I honestly don't know. Since I can't see anything with you around I can only guess, but I know that if it was one of us there wouldn't be any question at all." A look of sadness glazed her eyes before she blinked it away and went back to work. "Maybe you should just go with the sweats. They are more forgiving anyway."

"Is that what's going to happen to Jasper?"

A little of the brightness left Alice's eyes as she nodded. "He knew what to expect the moment that he touched you."

"And he's okay with that? I mean it's not like he has to just roll over and take it. I'm sure that he could put Carlisle…."

The young woman raised a hand to cut the shifter off. "Daddy sets the rules for our wellbeing and if we break them we have to accept the consequences."

"But we're talking about Jasper here. Jasper is a badass. I can't imagine him rolling over for anyone."

Alice giggled. "I'm sure that he would appreciate hearing that you hold him in such high regard, but right now my Major is not so much a bad ass as he is just a bad boy. You heard how nervous he was. Even when you know that it's deserved, facing the fact that you're going to wind up with a sore behind will make anyone at least a little scared."

Jacob ducked behind the cars and peeled off the tight jeans while Alice tossed a set of navy blue sweats in his direction.

"Jasper is scared?"

"Aren't you?"

Jake thought for a moment before deciding that he didn't like the direction his answer would take. Quickly he shifted the conversation back to Jasper.

"I didn't think anything could scare Jasper."

"Not much does, but when Daddy gets onto him he gets as nervous as the rest of us. I think it's cute because it's one of the few times that he regresses back to his youth. That's why his accent comes through and I get a reminder that I'm married to a true southern gentleman."

Jacob walked away from the cars once again and handed Alice the rejected clothes as his head drooped. "Who will defend his family regardless of the cost to himself or to his pride." He turned his rich brown eyes to Alice. "I'm such an ass. This is all my fault. He shouldn't have to suffer because of me. I need to go talk to Carlisle."

Alice shook her head. "Emmett said that Daddy told you to stay in the garage and that's what you need to do. He needs time to calm down. You can talk to him when he comes to get you."

"But what if he gives Jasper a licking before he comes to talk to me? Then it will be too late."

"Daddy is always fair and will listen to what Jazzy has to say before he decides how to handle him. While I really don't understand why you were so mean to Rose, you didn't force Jazz to disobey. That was his decision."

Jacob sat down on the floor and rested his head in his hands. "I didn't intend for her to get upset. In some twisted way, I thought I was doing her a favor. I was trying to keep to our status quo. I thought that she would be more comfortable with that rather than with being made to feel like she really did something wrong. She didn't owe me any apology, Alice. It never occurred to me that Rose actually meant what she was saying."

Alice placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "That is something that you need to tell Daddy. He will help you make it right."

The pixie suddenly cocked her head to the side. "Jake, I have to go. Daddy is heading up stairs to his study and I want a moment with Jazzy before … well. I'm sorry to leave you, but my husband needs me right now." Cupping his chin in her hand, Alice gently raised the boy's head until their eyes met. "Everything will be okay. Trust Carlisle to take the pain away and do what he says. He will probably recommend that you try to make up with Rose. It won't be easy, but if you tell her what you just told me, you just might find how forgiving my sister can be."

Brushing his hair out of his face, Alice gave Jacob a kiss on the cheek before heading towards the door. "It's natural to be nervous so don't worry about it. I promise that you'll be alright." With those parting words, the dark haired pixie was gone in a blink.

Jacob stared at the door for a minute before he laid down on the concrete floor and stared up at the ceiling. "Trust Carlisle to take the pain away? It sounds more like he wants to put me in pain. Pacifist my ass."___Maybe you deserve it, you fucking fool. You made Rosalie cry. If she was your sister, would you have been able to stand by while some asshole insults her? Dad would skin you alive if he knew how you just behaved. Why do you have to be such a dumbass?_

The boy's keen wolf hearing picked up on the sounds of footfalls on the second floor before he heard a soft knock.

"Jasper, I would like to see you in the study in ten minutes."

"Yesh, Sah."

___Apparently he's still nervous. _Jacob closed his eyes and tried not to think about what would happen in the next ten minutes let alone when it was his turn to face the vampire leader.___Yeah Alice, I am scared. I don't know that I would ever admit it, but I'm scared as hell and it is taking everything that I have not to run out that door. Big Bad Wolf, scared of a spanking. _Jacob groaned, completely disgusted with himself. ___God help me, but it's true._

* * *

**AN:** So much for a three shot. Pfft. Carlisle and the boys had other plans. Carlisle also had planned on pretty much letting Jazzy off the hook due to the situation, but once the Coven Leader had to make an appearance... well things don't look as positive for the Major. Poor thing was only making a guest appearance for Jasper1863Hale benefit and now look what's happened to him. He can't hang onto his pants to save his life.

Thanks for all the adds, favorites and just overall continuing support. You guys make it all worth while. As usual, special thanks to Splinter, my tireless beta who does her best to keep me from putting my foot in my mouth; a much more difficult task than trying to keep Jasper's pants on.


	4. Obedience Trials

"Come in, Jasper," Carlisle softly called as his son knocked on the solid heavy study door.

The Major hesitantly entered the room and closed the door behind him before glancing at his father sitting at his desk with a stack of paperwork at hand.

"Take a seat, Son."

"I think I would prefer ta stand if it's all tha same ta ya, Sah."

"I would feel better if you sat down and tried to relax. There is no need to be anxious, Jasper. Sit and take a breath. You'll feel better."

_Doubt that. _"Yesh, Sah."

Reluctantly, Jasper settled into the high-backed leather chair in front of Carlisle's desk and laid his folded hands in his lap as he fought the nervous energy that welled up inside. Drawing a breath he held it for a moment before slowly exhaling in an attempt to release a bit of the tension that threatened to consume him.

"The others can't leave," the boy remarked quietly.

"No, they can't."

"Good thing it's not Edward in trouble, huh?"

Carlisle smiled slightly. "That is a good thing, but I would have preferred that you not be in trouble either."

"About as much as I would prefer it."

Carlisle pushed back in his chair and crossed his legs as he interlaced his fingers and sighed.

"Jasper, would you care to try to explain what just happened downstairs?"

The soldier swallowed back the venom that flooded his mouth as his anxiety suddenly increased.

"I don't think that is really necessary, Papa. You were there. You witnessed the whole sorry scene. Jacob insulted Rosalie and I couldn't just stand by and let that happen." Looking down at his hands, Jasper sighed. "I'm sorry that I lost control and slapped him. That was my undoing. I should have known that he would phase at being threatened and I take full responsibility for the damage caused, but I am not sorry for defending my sister. His remarks were crude and entirely unnecessary and I believe that Jacob should feel some repercussions for that."

"That's not your decision, Son."

"No, Sir, it's not, but it is my opinion and since it's my butt on the line right now, I feel that I have the right to express it."

Carlisle could feel some of Jasper's frustration lapping at him as the Major's confidence grew from the perceived righteousness of his actions.

"We are not discussing Jacob at this moment."

"Well we should be since this is all his fault!"

Jasper slammed his hand down on the polished surface of the desk causing Carlisle to raise a brow at his son's outburst.

"You will control your temper and behave in a civil manner or I shall be forced to control you myself."

The younger blonde took a shaky breath and when he spoke his voice was thick with emotion. "I'm sorry, Papa, but try to see it from my perspective. Here I am called on the carpet while someone who was just as much a part of this as I was gets off with nothing more than a lecture. That doesn't seem fair, does it?"

"Jasper, things are very different in this age than when either one of us was growing up. Disciplining another person's child is frowned upon, to put it mildly. Even parents are afraid to punish their own children for fear of being viewed as abusive and a lot of youngsters know that and use it to their advantage. That wasn't the case years ago.

When I was a lad I found myself in a bit of trouble down by the docks when I took a liking to a couple of items on one of the merchants carts. Not being very skilled, I was easily caught while trying to nick them. The merchant thrashed me quite soundly and then proceeded to drag my thieving carcass home to my father.

I doubt that I need to tell you what happened to me when my father got his hands on me. He made certain to impress upon me the fact that stealing was a sin that would never be tolerated in the Cullen household."

The Major snickered a little causing his father to look at him in confusion. "It was a lesson well learned seeing as stealing still isn't tolerated in the Cullen household to this very day."

"True. It was a hard lesson, but well learned, however that really wasn't the point that I was getting at. The point is that this was common practice. It didn't bother my father in the least that some stranger from the streets had taken it upon himself to chastise me. In his eyes I had been dealt a bit of justice at the hands of the man who I had wronged. The whipping I got at home was to reinforce the merchant's lesson as well as a touch of retribution for having embarrassed my father since now people would know that he had raised a thief for a son."

Carlisle ran a hand through his hair as he turned silent while previously suppressed memories came to the forefront of his mind.

"It didn't bother him, but it did bother me and the idea of that practice still bothers me to this day. The thought of anyone laying a hand on any of my children fills me with rage. If you misbehave to the point of deserving punishment, it's my job to carry that out, not anyone else's. I know you. I know what you can handle and what would be considered going too far. A stranger has no concept of this and could inadvertently do more damage than they intended. This is true of Jacob and I as well. While we aren't exactly strangers, I haven't a clue where the line falls between punishment and abuse when it comes to that boy and it's not worth the risk of possibly blundering across it."

Jasper sat back a little in his chair while contemplating his father's words before he gently inquired, "Carlisle, who was the first person that you ever felt the need to physically punish?"

The patriarch crossed his arms and leaned his head back as he sighed softly. "Edward."

"Did you know what you were doing? Did you have complete and total faith in your abilities the first time you disciplined Edward."

"Of course not and I hated taking that step, but I didn't feel that I had another choice. I had to regain control over him so I reverted back to what I had learned from my father."

"Did you abuse him?"

"It felt like I did."

"Did. You. Abuse. Him?" The words were spoken slowly and very carefully.

Carlisle shook his head slowly. "No. I erred on the side of caution and wound up having to punish him again for the same thing, which was nearly as bad as having been too harsh. It took a while for me to find out what was effective with Edward. I made many mistakes along the way."

"By the time Alice and I came along I take it that you had all of the kinks worked out of your methods for keeping the peace within your coven. You had perfected it?"

Carlisle opened his eyes and stared thoughtfully at his son. "You know better than that. You were my biggest challenge, Jasper. You surrounded yourself with a wall that didn't allow for me to really get to know you at all. I felt like a blind man fumbling around when it came to you. That went for praise as well as punishment. You were impossible to read. I was stunned the day that wall finally came down and I discovered that your sensitivity rivals Edward's, but you have always demanded much more from me than what should be necessary. A heavy hand should never truly be necessary to make an impression upon you, but that was often what you required of me. Your history makes you difficult to correct in a way that isn't completely uncomfortable for me."

"So even though you knew us all very well before we ever gave you cause to punish, you still didn't know where the line between correction and abuse lay. Every one of us is different and there is no cookie cutter method that works across the board. If you really fear crossing the line, wouldn't it be better to simply not entertain the idea of corporal punishment."

"That would be ideal, but unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world. Without rules and the consequences that go along with them when broken, we would have chaos. Teen vampires are not exactly the easiest creatures to control and I refuse to stoop to traditional methods of keeping order in a coven.

I try to be as fair as possible, Jasper. I only punish behavior that threatens the security of our family or the safety of the individual. As the head of the family, I am responsible to make certain that everything runs smoothly and that the members know that they are safe. Regrettably, occasionally that requires punishment of those who break the rules."

"I broke the rules. I disobeyed a direct order and I broke a long standing rule that reads to the fact that if we must argue, we do so with words instead of physical altercation. To make matters worse, that altercation took place within our home, showing a great lack of respect for the safety of the other family members as well as a disregard for their property."

"That's correct."

"I should be and take it that I will be punished for my actions."

"Yes."

"Did Jacob not take the exact same path with an added offense of being grossly disrespectful towards a certain member of this family?"

"Jasper, that is different. If Jacob was a member of the family, he would fall under the same rules, but he isn't. He is a guest in this house and has his own family that is responsible for him."

"Would you correct Bella for misbehavior?"

"Of course. She is Edward's mate and a therefore a member of our family."

"What about before Bella and Edward were wed? Would you have brought Bella back in line when she strayed?"

"No. That was up to Charlie. While I may have questioned the effectiveness of his methods of rearing Bella, it was never my place to step in."

Jasper leaned forward and placed his hands flat against the desk top as he gazed deeply into his father's onyx eyes. "If Bella had decided to continue her hobby of cliff diving, can you truthfully say that you would not have done everything within your power to the point of tanning her hide, if it would have discouraged her from partaking in that foolish activity?"

Carlisle held his son's gaze for several moments before he glanced down with a sigh.

"That's because you considered Bella family from the moment you met her. You knew that she and Edward were meant to be together and you were immediately protective of her. You expected her to mind for her own good." Jasper gave a nod knowing that he was correct.

The patriarch rubbed his forehead as he considered the boy's words. "I fail to see how this relates to our current topic of discussion."

"Papa, you considered Bella family long before she really became such. I know for a fact that you've considered Jacob family for better than a year at the very least. He might be the cousin twice removed who the rest of us try to hide in the basement, but you care for him every bit as much as you care for Bella.

You respected Ephraim Black. I can tell by the emotions you feel when you speak of him or hear his name. You see him in Jacob and you respond to that. Jacob did this family a great service the day he saved Bella from that near drowning during her cliff diving lunacy which luckily also eventually saved Edward. I'm not sure if you accepted him at that point, but I do know that when that newborn injured him at the close of our battle, you felt concern and sorrow for his pain. Those were not the emotions of a doctor towards a patient. No, Sir, they were much stronger than that. The feelings that you were experiencing were the feelings of a father for his child."

Jasper laid a hand on Carlisle's arm as it rested on the desk.

"Jacob is family. We all feel it and we accept it though it still might come as a bit of a shock to him. There will be some growing pains as we learn to accept each other, but he is a part of this family and family must adhere to the rules or suffer the consequences."

Carlisle switched his gaze from the hand on his arm up into his son's eyes as he slowly exhaled.

"Am I wrong, Papa?"

The elder remained quiet for several minutes before he shook his head. "No, Jasper, you're not wrong. I do see Jake as another son, but the fact remains that he has a father to answer to and that man is not me."

"Call Billy. Talk to him and let him know what happened. See what he has to say. What harm can it do?"

"I have every intention of doing just that, but first you and I have unfinished business to attend to. While I appreciate your input, it seems that we have jumped track just a little. Back to my original point; I did not ask you in here to discuss Jacob's behavior."

For the briefest of moments Carlisle found himself feeling extremely nervous then the jitteriness vanished as his son softly replied, "No Sir, you didn't."

"Jasper, there are no words that exist which could convey just how disappointed I was with that display downstairs. I know that you were coming to Rosalie's defense and that is a very noble gesture, but when you are told to stop you need to listen. You need to stop and walk away the moment I tell you to. I shouldn't have been forced to raise my voice to get you to comply."

"I know." Jasper's foot began to tap a rhythm against the hardwood floor. "I'm sorry, Papa. I was..."

"Caught up in the moment. Yes, I know, Son, but you can't allow yourself to lose control like that. You must control your temper instead of letting it control you. You're better than this, Jazz."

Jasper lowered his head and shook it. "No, I'm not. I should be, but I'm not."

Carlisle quietly got up from his chair and walked around to lean against the front of his desk. Gently he tapped the soldier's chin until Jasper once again raised his head to meet his eyes.

"Yes, you are. Your heart was in the right place; you simply went about things the wrong way. Jasper, listen to me and listen well. There is a world of difference between you as an individual and your behavior. It seems that you have a tendency to forget that."

The boy turned his head away, but his father quickly caught his chin and drew him back.

"No, you don't. I want your full attention, young man. I want you to look me in the eye when I say this so that you know I'm telling you the truth. You, Major Jasper Whitlock Cullen are a good man. If that wasn't the case then it is likely that we would not be in this situation right now.

Jasper sighed. "We've been down this trail how many times now, Papa? Alright. Fine. I'm a good man, but I'm a good man that completely lacks self control which tarnishes my sterling personality. It's a short coming that causes situations like this and will always prevent me from being the man you delude yourself into thinking that I am."

Carlisle closed his eyes and groaned in frustration as he turned away from his son.

_See, I was right. He just refuses to admit that I can't be taught and trusted like everyone else. _"Papa, it's just something that we have to accept; or rather you do because I already have. I just don't have the same potential."

The elder crossed his arms and shook his head before his left hand automatically went to the bridge of his nose to pinch it firmly.

_Now you've done it, cowboy. You went ahead and pissed him off when your ass is already in a sling. Smooth move. Should just go ahead and chalk stupid up right there next to that loose cannon title._

With his back still turned to his son, Carlisle inquired quietly. "Jasper, just how thirsty are you right now?"

"On a scale of one to ten?"

"Sure."

"Fifty seven."

"How enticing is the scent of Bella's blood?"

Jasper dropped his gaze to the floor, but didn't answer.

"Jasper?"

"She's Edward's mate." He shook his head. "She's my sister."

"That's not an answer, Son."

Jasper's jaw tightened and Carlisle felt a wave of frustrated desperation before the faintest of whispers reached the patriarch's ears. "I've never in all my years wanted anything more."

Carlisle turned back around and looked at the miserable boy cradling his head in his hands.

"For someone with no self control, I would say that you are doing a tremendous job of resisting your most basic drive."

"Carlisle..."

The elder cupped the soldier's chin and raised his head. For several seconds Carlisle did nothing but stare intently into Jasper's eyes until he felt a wave of nervousness wash over him.

"You use this excuse as a crutch and it's not going to work any longer. I refuse to believe that you can control your blood lust in the face of starvation, but you can not control your temper. Only a fool would accept that."

Jasper closed his eyes, but a light shake of the hand that still held his head up caused him to open them once again.

"You are lying to me and you are lying to yourself. I don't appreciate being lied to, Jasper."

The boy swallowed hard, but remained silent.

With a quiet sigh, Carlisle released his hold on his son and was pleased to find Jasper willing to maintain eye contact of his own accord.

Leaning back against his desk once more, the doctor crossed his arms over his chest and studied the Major for a moment as his mind raced. Finally drawing a breath, Carlisle continued as he held Jasper in his stern gaze.

"I am willing to make some concession at this time. I know that you are struggling right now; we all are. I'm willing to allow your show of temper based on the fact that the majority of your focus has to be on controlling your thirst. We all have our limits and when they are reached something is bound to snap."

Jasper closed his eyes as he released a held breath and began to relax at his father's declaration.

"Son, please look at me."

When the boy opened his eyes his father shook his head.

"That is only a partial reprieve. I don't want to mislead you. You are not off the hook by a long shot, Jazz. While I'm willing to over look the basic argument between you and Jacob, I can not allow the fact that you disobeyed your mother and I several times. If you had walked away when asked the situation would not have escalated and the house would still be in one piece. I know for a fact that you understand how to follow a directive so I will accept no excuse for this gross disobedience."

"Yes, Sir. I understand."

"You will make an apology to Jacob. Regardless of how any of us view him, he is still a guest in this house. His appalling behavior is not an excuse for yours."

Jasper nodded once accepting a fate that he had already known awaited him.

"I expect both you and Jacob to clean up the mess that you caused. You will mate his speed so it will take you longer to accomplish."

The boy groaned at the idea of working at the punitive human pace and began to protest, but a raised hand from his father quickly quieted him.

"The slower speed is in part as punishment, but I also want to make sure that the work gets done with equal effort by both parties. If you speed through and do all the work there is no punitive value for Jacob, so I'm sorry Son, but you will work slowly."

"Yes, Papa," Jasper muttered as he glanced down at his feet in annoyance.

"Now as far as your disobedience goes..." Carlisle sighed as he pushed himself away from his desk and extended a hand towards his boy. "You know what to expect, Son."

Jasper ran both hands through his hair before taking his father's hand and allowing himself to be brought to his feet.

"Let's get this over with."

"Yes, Sir."

Jasper followed his father over towards the loveseat, but remained standing as Carlisle took a seat.

Looking slightly away to give the boy some privacy, Carlisle held out his hand as he made a soft request."Give me your belt, Jasper and unfasten your pants."

"Ummm."

Carlisle looked over at his son only to realize that he was wearing dress slacks and had forgone with a belt. Suddenly the elder's eyes narrowed as an anomaly caught his attention. "Jasper, are those my good Irish linen slacks?"

"Um. Well..."

"That are now covered in wolf spit?"

"I'm afraid they got a little torn as well." Jasper fingered a rip near his hip as he fidgeted.

"Of all of my pants that you could have borrowed, why...?"

"They looked best with my shirt and the charcoal color nearly matches my waistcoat as you can see for yourself."

A muscle twitched in Carlisle's jaw before he closed his eyes and shook his head. "Just take them down and come here."

"Yes, Sir."

Jasper's hands shook slightly as he freed the button and reluctantly lowered the zipper of his pants. "I can see why you like these pants, Papa. They're very comfortable. Couldn't I just keep..."

"Jasper."

The pointed stare that accompanied the warning tone was all the encouragement Jasper needed. Standing at Carlisle's right side, the Major quickly lowered his slacks and sighed before draping himself across his father's lap.

"You know you would gain better leverage to be able to deliver a harder whipping if you would let me bend over the desk instead of having me across your knees. You really shouldn't restrict your range of motion like this."

Shifting his son forward a bit until he was in a position more to the doctor's liking, Carlisle wrapped his left arm around Jasper's waist as he shook his head slightly while a light smile tugged at his lips.

"Thank you for the recommendation, Son, but I think we'll stick to my way for now. You might want to consider that I may prefer my range of motion restricted."

"If you say so, Papa. I just wanted to help."

"I appreciate your thoughtfulness and your concern has been noted." The patriarch sighed inwardly as he rested his hand upon the boy's bare thigh. "Ready?"

"Not really."

"So sorry."

Jasper yelped before regaining control over his vocalizations as his father's hand rapidly set his backside ablaze. Burying his face in his folded arms, the youth knew that he was fighting a losing battle to remain as silent against the stinging pain, but his pride was not ready to give in.

_Have to take it like a man. Don't want Jacob to hear. DAMN IT BUT THAT HURTS!_

Carlisle felt his son tense as a particularly sharp blow caught the sensitive undercurve of his left cheek and sighed.

"Jasper, stop fighting. You're making this harder on both of us," the elder gently commented before ramping up the speed and strength of his strokes.

"Sorry, Carlisle," the Major hissed through clenched teeth, "Can't. Help. It."

_Blasted stubborn pride. _Carlisle shook his head as he concentrated his attention on the most impressionable area of Jasper's backside drawing the faintest of gasps from the boy. _Come on, Jazz. You have to let go._

As the stinging soreness increased, the soldier found it impossible to stay still. Self preservation caused him to squirm in an attempt to deflect his father's blows, but Carlisle managed to stay on target while tightening his grip on his son.

"Jasper, stop now or you'll lose the boxers."

"Not doin' any good...anyway," he gasped.

"Oh? So then you won't mind if I get them out of my way." Carlisle suspended the spanking for a moment as he hooked a finger under the waist band of Jasper's underwear only to have his son suddenly protest loudly.

"NO! Please, Papa don't."

The elder was overcome by a crippling feeling of humiliation which vanished nearly as quickly as it had set in. Drawing a deep breath to settle his nerves, Carlisle landed several strong solid smacks against his son's battered bottom.

"Then stop fighting me."

"Yesh, Sah." Jasper hated the weakness that he heard in his tone, but he hated the tears that welled up in his eyes even more. _Damn it, Whitlock. It's just a little spanking. What's wrong with you?_

Feeling his son teetering on the brink, Carlisle made up his mind to give him the push that he needed secure in the knowledge that he would catch his son when he fell.

Carlisle resumed the spanking, but his strokes fell a little lighter and slower .

"There are very few things in this world that we can always count on to remain true. Everything we know is in a constant state of change, but there is one thing that will never change, Jasper. Do you know what that is?"

The boy gritted his teeth as he shook his head.

"The one thing that remains constant is how proud I am of you."

Jasper became very still despite the burning in his hind quarters and he mentally cursed the held back venom tears that stung his eyes.

"You were born into this life in the midst of a darkness and violence that the rest of us have can only imagine. That sort of life would have consumed the heart and spirit of a weaker man, but you made it through the mire without having lost yourself. You've remained a kind and just young man who is noble to a fault."

Carlisle stilled his hand and placed it very gently on his son's back.

"Knowing these things about you, I tend to expect a great deal. I believe there are times that I expect too much. I have to admit that I hold you to a higher standard because I see such potential in you, Son and want you to live up to that. I'm sorry if I have put undue stress upon you because of this. I suspect that this is also the reason that I become so disappointed when you misbehave. It almost feels like being betrayed and that hurts a great deal. In reality though, the person who is truly betrayed in these instances is yourself because you turn your back on who you should be and I find that unconscionable."

The patriarch lightly rubbed the boy's back soothingly and felt Jasper shudder as the first quiet sob escaped. A wave of inwardly directed hatred and self pity blanketed Carlisle under its suffocating weight.

The comforting hand vanished from Jasper's back and in an instant came down sharply on his sore behind. The soldier's head shot up with a cry as a new round of tears rolled down his cheeks.

"No, Jasper. I did not tell you these things to make you feel sorry for yourself and I sure as hell am not going to stand by and allow you to beat yourself up."

"I can't help it."

"Yes, you can. There is no reason for it."

"But, there is," Jasper whimpered faintly. "I let you down. No matter how hard I try, I will always let you down. That is what's unconscionable, Carlisle. You don't expect too much; I expect too little. You're right in thinking that my behavior should be better than what I'm showing you. You shouldn't have to hold me to a higher standard, because I should be the one to hold myself to it, but I haven't."

Jasper covered his head with his arms as he buried his face against the cushion. With the tempest of emotions threatening to drown him, the gentle hand that had returned to its place on his back became the soldier's lifeline.

Carlisle remained silent while he lightly rubbed his son's back allowing his touch to provide comfort to the wounded boy. As Jasper slowly regained control, the elder loosened his hold around his son's waist, but was surprised when the soldier made no move to get up.

Sniffling quietly, Jasper spoke in a hoarse voice. "There was a time when you told me that I focus too much on my failures when I should focus on my success. At the time I didn't really believe you, but I do now. I've been willing to accept my own excuses for failure when I should have been striving to do better. I've become complacent."

Jasper shifted around enough to allow him to look over his shoulder to catch Carlisle's eye.

"Don't expect miracles, Papa, but I'll try to change that."

Carlisle smiled as he sighed softly. "I never expect miracles, Jazz and I know that it will be hard to retrain the way you think, but I know that you can do it. I'll be with you every step of the way to offer whatever help you need to make that change."

Sniffling back the thick venom, Jasper smirked as his eyes twinkled. "Including tanning my hide when I need it."

The elder rolled his eyes. "Let's hope you don't need it." He tussled his son's wheaten locks before gently helping him up to sit in his lap.

Jasper laid his head against Carlisle's shoulder as he soaked up the much needed comfort of the elder's embrace.

"Just so you know, I don't feel an ounce of remorse about defending Rose, but I am sorry that I slapped Jacob. My first order of business should be to work on controlling my temper."

Carlisle tipped the boy's head up with a knuckle pressed lightly under his jaw allowing him to meet the boy's black eyes.

"Your first order of business will be to apologize to Jacob and then the two of you will get down to putting this house back in order. You really should consider yourself extremely lucky that your mother didn't skin the both of you alive right there in the middle of the living room."

"Maybe my first order of business should be an apology to Momma."

"I believe that would be the actions of a wise and very brave man."

"Is she really that angry?"

"Hurt is more like it. Hurt and worried, but there isn't a doubt in my mind that you can ease all of that."

With a sigh, Jasper slid off of Carlisle's lap grimacing slightly at a spike of pain brought on by the friction. Briskly rubbing at the reignited sting, he quickly redressed before giving his father a nod. "I think I'll go see Momma and try to set things right."

"And after you have taken care of that, I want you to go to your room and rest for a bit. I'll call for you when I'm ready for my two trouble makers to get to work on the living room."

"And you call Billy Black."

Carlisle raised a brow as he held his boy in a steady gaze. "Are you telling me what to do, buachaill?"

Jasper held up both hands in surrender."It was just a suggestion."

"Then allow me to offer you a suggestion in return. When you go talk to your mother, grab a change of clothes, but stay away from my suits and dress clothes. For comfort's sake, I think sweat pants or a wind-suit would be your best bet."

"These are actually really comfortable, Papa. They are light enough that they aren't bothering my rear like my jeans tend to." Jasper narrowed his eyes thoughtfully for a moment before adding, "Of course that wasn't the worst tanning you've given me either."

"I'll be happy to correct that if it will make you happier."

"Oh, no, Sir. I'm good. I don't want to put you through any more trouble."

Carlisle chuckled quietly. "I'm glad to hear it. Now go on and check in with your mother. I have a phone call to make and would like some privacy."

"Yes, Sir." In a flash, Jasper was gone.

Leaning back, Carlisle rubbed his eyes as he moaned. _Good Lord, but I don't want to do this. It would be different if he was mine. I still wouldn't want to, but at least I would know it was for his own good. With this there are just so many things that can go wrong. This is something for his father to handle, but it's too dangerous to risk sending him home or trying to take him there myself._ The patriarch gave a little snort. _Take him there myself. Sure Carlisle, just take a Sunday drive right into the wolf's den. What could be safer? Oh I don't know, pissing Caius the hell off, maybe?_

_Can't take him to his father without risk of life and limb. Can't just send him home on his own for the very same reason. Could ask Billy to come get him, but then he will be at risk when he tries to return to be with Bella... and you know that he will. _

Fishing in his pocket, Carlisle pulled out his cell phone and scrolled through the numbers. When the name 'Billy Black' showed up on the screen the patriarch's breath ceased. With a press of a button, the elder held the phone to his ear while his other hand worried the pressure point at the bridge of his nose. Silently he prayed for a reprieve. _Maybe he will be away from his phone._

"Hello?"

_Damn.  
_

"Hello, Billy. This is Carlisle Cullen. I was wondering if you have a few free moments to talk. We've had a little incident with Jacob and one of my boys that I would like to discuss with you. I could really use your advice."

* * *

**AN:** A bit more angst then I was going for, guys. Sorry about that. It just sort of happens when Jasper's in trouble. The first part of the chapter was easy, but the second part... not so much. I've even managed to lose my crutch for explaining Jasper's slip ups. Apparently I can't claim lack of control any longer or he will be lying to Carlisle and that's a whole other issue that the Major does not want to get into.

Alrighty, what should we do with Jacob? Honestly, I am open to suggestions here because quite frankly, Carlisle is giving me heartache. It seemed pretty simple when I started with it, but for a story that should have ended in the last chapter, this sucker keeps turning around on itself.

Thanks for everything, guys. Y'all are awesome. Thanks to my tireless beta, Splinter. I would be in a rubber room by now without her.

I think I need to head back to Denali and take care of some business over there, but we will deal with Jacob's issue soon. ;-)


	5. Every Dog Has His Day

"Yes, you have my word that I won't allow any harm to come to him. I'll go much easier on Jake than I do my own children for safety's sake."

"It's been a long time since I've had to..." The phone line was suddenly silent as Billy appeared to find himself at a loss for words. "I would come if there was any way possible, but Sam sees your family as a threat and he's not listening to reason."

Carlisle closed his eyes and sighed inwardly. "I can understand his concerns. We don't know what we're dealing with and are more than a little concerned ourselves. All we can do is just take one day at a time and pray for the best. My focus is on just keeping Bella alive and as comfortable as I can make her. The fetus is not compatible with her body and my preference would be to remove it. Of course she refuses. She's a stubborn child, but then I wouldn't have her any other way."

"If she wasn't stubborn she wouldn't be Charlie Swan's daughter."

Both men laughed before Billy turned serious.

"Carlisle, I really don't like this. I understand your position; seriously I do. My son knows better than to behave like that regardless of where he is and who he's with, but he is MY son."

"If our roles were reversed, I would feel exactly the same, Billy. That's why I wouldn't do anything without consulting with you first. If I thought that Sam would give us free passage back and forth this one time, believe me I would be more than happy to bring Jake to you and let you handle this."

"Sam is doing what he feels is in the best interest of the town's people."

"I understand that, but I will protect my family by any means necessary." Carlisle sighed sadly. "I regret that this puts us at odds once again."

There was silence on the line again as both men struggled with their conflicted feelings before Billy softly spoke. "Take care of my son, Carlisle."

"As if he were one of my own."

"Have him call me when it's over. It's not that I don't trust you, but I need to know that he is alright."

"Understandable. I'll make sure that you have proof of life in just a little while." There was a teasing tone to Carlisle's words as he attempted to lighten the mood.

Billy offered up a sad laugh. "I'll be waiting."

"He'll talk to you soon."

"Thank you, Carlisle. Bye."

The phone disconnected leaving the patriarch to the silence of his study. Flipping the cell closed he stared at the small device resting in the palm of his hand. "Good bye, Billy. I just hope that we've made the right choice."

Settling back into the cushions, Carlisle closed his eyes allowing the rare moment of quiet in the house to relax him. _I never thought that I would find myself in this position and I really don't like it one bit._ He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair and focused on the calming sound of his breathing.

A loud crack caused the doctor's eyes to fly open as the slight peaceful reprieve was rudely interrupted. A light feminine mumbling preceding a very clear and distinct "Yesh, Ma'am. It won't happen again." clearly informing Carlisle of the source of the sudden sound.

"They really should know not to take Esme's good nature for granted." Carlisle chuckled softly to himself as he groaned and got to his feet.

_Undoubtedly, Jake will be a nervous wreck. No point in making things worse by prolonging this unpleasantness. _

Quietly, Carlisle made his way downstairs glancing in dismay at the wreckage before proceeding through the house until he was standing at the door leading out into the garage. Filling his lungs and steeling his nerves, the patriarch slowly opened the door to find Jacob laying on the cold concrete floor staring up at the ceiling with his arms folded behind his head.

"Jacob, how are you doing?"

"No so great."

"How is your nose? It looked like Jasper got in a good shot on you."

"It bled a little, but it's okay now."

Closing the door quietly, Carlisle sat down on the step leading down into the garage as he watched the youth with concern.

"Would you mind coming over here and letting me take a look at it?"

"I said that it's fine."

"I would feel better if I made that observation for myself."

Jacob sat up with a snort and pulled his bent legs against his chest while wrapping his arms around his knees as he kept a watchful eye on the vampire leader. "I don't think so, Carlisle. I'm not stupid."

"I never thought that you were. I'm not going to hurt you, Jake."

Jacob smiled as he glanced down at the ground. "Yeah, right. That's a laugh."

From the boy's profile, the doctor noticed a slight deviation to his nose. "It appears to have been broken. Why don't you let me tape it for you? Your accelerated healing will repair it shortly and it would be better if it were set properly before that happens."

"I like it this way. It adds character and can be a lasting reminder of why I shouldn't trust vampires."

"Jacob, I am sorry for the way some of the members of my house have behaved. Each and every one of them knows better and they are usually not like this. Patience is being stretch to the limits across the board and I have been trying to be a little lenient with the rules because of our unusual situation, but that may have been a mistake on my part. I know that at any other time Jasper would have shown greater restraint."

"Doesn't matter. It was just a way to blow off a little steam."

"It does matter. My children know what is expected of them and the lack of consideration directed towards you has been appalling. I won't stand for that, Jacob." Carlisle lowered his head for a moment as he drew a calming breath before turning his ebony eyes back on the shape-shifting youth. "Likewise, I won't stand to have my house reduced to rubble or my children hurt by a guest in our home."

"Well, I'll leave then." Jacob got to his feet and turned towards the garage door.

"Jacob, do not walk out of that door."

Turning back towards the vampire, Jake threw his arms out at his sides. "Then what do you want? Obviously all I do is cause trouble to your family. I'm not leaving, Carlisle. Bella needs my protection and I will not abandon her, but I can tell that I'm not wanted. I'll just camp in the woods. I'll be close enough to help with Sam, but far enough to not get in the way."

"It's too dangerous."

Jacob scoffed. "Like you care. Besides, the pack isn't going to come this close to the house. Not yet anyway. They want to avoid a conflict with Leah, Seth and I if they can help it. I'll be fine. It's not like I haven't been on my own before."

"Jacob, I have made a promise to your father and I will keep it. You are not to step one foot out of that door or I will make you regret it."

Carlisle's timbre and tone did not alter, but the elder stood up ready to intercept the boy if necessary.

"You might be able to push Jasper and the others around, but I'm not scared of you, Carlisle."

Carlisle crossed his arms as he watched the boy bow up with a false sense of bravado. Subtle signals in his body language gave Jacob's trepidation away even though the elder could see him struggling hard to mask his fear.

"I'm glad to hear that, Jacob. I have no desire for you to fear me, but just as a point of clarification, my children don't fear me either."

"Oh that is just so much bullshit."

The doctor cringed at the lad's continuing reliance on vulgarity. "Jacob, I'll ask you one last time, please mind your language. It's very unbecoming."

Jacob tipped his head in acknowledgement as he crossed his arms mimicking the vampire's stance. "What promise did you make to my father?"

"I told him that I would take care of you."

"I don't need anyone to take care of me."

"Possibly not, but I still gave him my word and I have every intention of following through. That means that you will not be leaving this house while Seth and Leah are not around to watch your back. You will not be camping out in the woods either. I regret that I can't entice Leah into the house, but both you and Seth will continue to make use of the spare room and I won't hear another word to the contrary."

"You don't own me and you can't dictate anything to me. I don't have to listen to you."

Carlisle cleared his throat as a mild tinge of frustration worked its way into his tone. "Jacob, if you wish to remain on this property to look after Bella you will be required to follow the same rules as everyone else. If you don't feel that you can do that I'll have no choice, but to take you back to your home for your own safety."

"You can't do that, Carlisle. Sam won't let you cross onto our lands. You no longer have any amnesty at all. He will kill you."

"I will just have to risk it and hope for the best."

The teen set his jaw as he glared into the midnight black eyes that passively watched him before he lowered his head while throwing his arms in the air.

"Fine. Whatever you want, Carlisle, but don't think that I'm some lap dog who is going to follow you around and hang on your every word."

"I would never dream of such a thing."

A shroud of silence fell between the doctor and the young boy as neither wished for the discussion to proceed. Finally, while scuffing his bare foot carelessly against the concrete, Jacob inquired, "So what now? Since I was banished to the garage, I think it's pretty clear that I broke your rules. Are you doing to beat me now like you did Jasper?"

A pained look crossed Carlisle's face. "I didn't beat Jasper. I don't beat my children nor would I beat you."

"It sure as hell sounded like you beat the shit out of him.

Carlisle groaned while rubbing his eyes in frustration.

"The first thing that you need to know is that I never discuss what goes on in my study with anyone other than the miscreant." The elder thought for a moment before adding, "and possibly my wife. If you want details of Jasper's punishment, you will have to ask him. You also will not pester him. If he wishes to share with you, that's fine. If he doesn't, you are to let the subject drop. Is that clear?"

"Whatever."

Carlisle did his best to ignore the boy's insolent tone as he kept his voice calm and controlled. "Come on, Jake. Let's take this upstairs where you can be a little more comfortable."

"Are you out of your fucking mind? We can do this right here. I don't know what you have up there. How do I know that you won't beat me with a fucking four by four? I mean, shit; I can only imagine what it takes to make Jasper cry out like that."

"And that would be it." Carlisle was at Jacob's side in less than a heartbeat. "I've had enough of that, young man. Let's go." Grasping the boy's elbow firmly, the patriarch began to lead the Jake towards the door before he could think to protest.

At the step, Jacob suddenly shook off Carlisle's hold and took a step back. "Fuck that, Carlisle."

The elder fixed his charge in a stern gaze. "The next thing you need to know, Jacob, is that you will do as you are told. I will always allow for questions and concerns, but when I give you direction, you will follow it. The rules of this house are few and very simple. They are based on respect for each other. You will show me the respect that I am due as the head of this family and do what is asked of you."

"I'm an alpha. I give orders. I don't take them."

Carlisle squared his shoulders and appeared a little bit taller then the boy previously thought.

"You are an alpha to your pack and I respect that, but you are in my house and here I am in charge."

Jake felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up in response to Carlisle's clear show of authority. _I don't have to listen to you. _The shifter ground his teeth out of irritation. He didn't break with Sam only to bow to another. He felt as though his body was on fire as the wolf reared its head in response to the challenge, but the boy fought it down and looked away from the dark smouldering eyes. _For Bella._

"Alright. Whatever you say," Jacob groused. "Lead on, Mob Boss."

Carlisle cocked his head and raised a brow, but swallowed the rebuke that balanced on the tip of his tongue.

"Come on, Jake."

Jacob followed Carlisle into the house, but was surprised when the doctor passed up the stairs and headed down the hall behind them.

"I thought your study was upstairs."

"It is."

"Well, did you just get lost or something? I know that you're old, but I didn't think your kind suffered from senility. You do know that the steps are back there, right?"

Carlisle stopped at a door, pushed it open and flipped on the light before stepping back to usher Jacob in. "In you go, Jake."

As soon as the shifter hit the doorway he froze while shaking his head then took a step back. "Nuh uh. No way."

"Uh-huh. The sooner you accept the fact that this is going to happen the quicker it will be over."

Carlisle placed his hand on the boy's back between his shoulders and gave him a gentle shove forward which only served to cause greater resistance from Jacob.

"No, Carlisle. You can't do that. It's not like I'm five or something. Look, I won't do it again. Can't we just forget it and start over?"

"I'm afraid not. I've warned you time and time again. You've run out of chances. Now get in there or I will be forced to give you a little preview of the rest of the night's festivities. It's your choice, but either way you will eventually go in and have a seat. The only question is will you be sitting on a sore behind or not?"

Jacob continued to shake his head as he took several more steps back away from the doorway.

"Jacob Black, come here this instant."

The stern edge to Carlisle's soft voice was enough to fill the boy with dread, but as he backed away and crashed into the far wall his anxiety overwhelmed him and Carlisle once again found himself face to face with a large red wolf standing in his home.

"Jacob!"

The wolf tossed it's head as it stared at the patriarch with large sad eyes. His long legs were splayed out nearly spanning the distance between the walls and he trembled slightly. The beast's whimpering reverberated through out the hall as he pleaded for mercy in the only way he knew how.

The doctor sighed and rubbed at his temple as if to drive off a headache while the wolf remained frozen in place.

"Jacob," he spoke in nearly a whisper as he tried to soothe the boy. "It's alright, Jake. Everything is going to be alright. Come here."

When the shifted wolf-boy made no attempt the move, the elder tried again.

"I'm not mad, Jake. There is no reason to be afraid."

The wolf only whined louder as he laid his ears back and flat against his broad skull.

_At least his tail isn't tucked. Oh wait, there it goes. _Carlisle pinched the bridge of this nose. This was an entirely new situation for the patriarch and for the first time in a very long time he was at a total loss of how to respond.

"Jacob, you need to phase back into your human form. Esme does not allow animals in the house."

The only reaction was another heart wrenchingly soft whimper as the large soulful brown eyes pleaded with Carlisle.

_Perhaps a different approach._ "Jacob Black, how do you think your father would feel to find out that you were carrying on this way? Now get yourself into this bathroom right now, young man before I come over there and drag you in by the scruff of your neck. I promise you that you don't not want me to have to do that."

Inching his way with his head lowered, the wolf crept towards the bathroom bringing a sigh of relief from Carlisle.

"That a boy, Jake. Come on. This isn't easy or pleasant for either of us, but you're making it out to be much worse than it really is. That's it. You're doing just fine."

As the russet wolf reached the doorway, Carlisle stepped inside the small quest bathroom and made his way over to the sink. The large shaggy head poked through the door, but the narrow space prevented the boy's passage. Squeezing his shoulder against the door-frame, Jacob raised his head slightly and let out a low mournful howl.

The noise was deafening in the small cramped space and Carlisle quickly hushed the boy.

Cradling the huge shaggy head between his hands, the coven leader spoke softly. "Jacob, I need you to calm down and return to your human form."

The wolf whined quietly then leaned in and rubbed his muzzle against Carlisle's shoulder. With a deep sigh, the doctor scratched the animal behind his ear.

"You're not going to relax anytime soon are you?"

The shifter lowered his head and closed his eyes.

Carlisle shook his head as he stepped back from the boy. "Alright, I guess we will just have to do this your way."

Returning to the sink, the doctor turned on the tap and ran the bar of soap under the stream of cold water. Quickly working the bar up into a thick lather, he turned back towards Jacob.

"Open your mouth, and if you value your hide at all you will not bite me."

The wolf gave one more pleading whine before closing his eyes tightly while opening his maw, his long pink tongue lolling out as he did so.

Carlisle looked from the submitting wolf, to the foaming bar of soap in his hand, then back to the animal. "This is ridiculous." Placing the soap down on the side of the sink, the doctor placed his hand flat against the underside of the beast's jaw and closed his mouth.

"Jacob, listen to me. I'm going to go up to my study for a little while to give us both a bit of time to regroup. I need you to calm yourself down and I expect to find a young man waiting in here for me when I return."

Jake's tail rapidly thumped against the wall as he lowered his head and butted the vampire in the chest knocking Carlisle off balance.

Catching himself on the sink, the elder sighed. "Jake, I wouldn't celebrate so quickly if I were you. You are not off the hook, young man. I just need to be able to talk to you and I can't do that when you are in this form."

The lupine head nodded faintly, but the tail continued to drum against the sheetrock.

"Alright, son. You are going to have to let me out."

Jake backed up and laid down in the hall, allowing Carlisle to exit.

As he passed the wolf, the patriarch couldn't resist the urge to give him one last scratch behind the ear.

Giving a loud low groan, Jacob stretched out on his side and pawed gently at Carlisle's leg.

"Behave yourself, boy." The doctor smiled slightly. "I'll be back in about thirty minutes. Get yourself under control. We can't have anymore of this phasing. The house and my nerves can't take it."

Carlisle ran his hand over a new crack in the wall caused by the thick heavy tail before shaking his head sadly as he walked away to disappear up the stairs.

Jacob raised his head and watched the patriarch depart. Sneezing, he stretched out again and rubbed his muzzle against the floor before huffing out a sigh. _He is going to kill me. _He closed his eyes as his mind continued to spin. _And why not, my dad would have killed me. I'll be lucky if he doesn't the next time he sees me. _Jake pawed at his snout and sneezed again. _Pull yourself together. This is just Carlisle. He is only about the kindest person you've ever met...who managed to make the baddest guy you've ever met cry like a little girl. Christ, he's going to fucking kill me._

* * *

Roughly twenty minutes later, Jake sat on the closed toilet lid with a towel wrapped around his waist. Off and on he glared at the drying bar of soap with a mixture of curiosity and disdain.

_How bad can it be?_

Slowly he rubbed a finger across the smooth tacky surface before slipping the finger into his mouth.

The boy was on his feet in a flash spitting into the sink for all he was worth. Cranking on the tap, he stuck his tongue out into the fast flowing stream then sucked in a mouthful and spat some more.

"Man, seriously?"

Jacob's head shot up to see Jasper leaning against the door frame with a stack of clothes in his hand and a smirk on his lips.

"I cannot believe that you went there. Trust me, you will get your fill of soap in just a few minutes here. Seems that curiosity can do just as bad of a tune on a wolf as it does on a cat."

Jake wiped the water off his chin as he kept a cautious eye on the Major. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough." Jazz held the clothes out towards the boy. "Here. Alice figured that you were back in need. Got some khaki cargo pants on the top. I think those will suit you pretty well. They're light and baggy. Makes a difference; trust me. Also shouldn't hold the heat in like those sweat pants would have so in the long run you did yourself a favor. Alice doesn't exactly get into trouble very often so she's not the best at choosing post punishment friendly attire, but I did not say that."

Jacob took the khakis from the soldier as Jasper continued to rifle through the stack.

"See, like this." He held up a pair of black jeans for the shifter to see. "No one in their right mind would wear jeans if he had another choice."

Jasper suddenly leaned back and glanced down the hall before rolling the jeans up in a tight bundle and stashing them under his arm.

"Shhh. You did not see me do that. Now I just have to find a good place to hide them until Hurricane Alice has finally been subdued."

"Got a shirt in there?"

The southerner looked up with an expression of utter confusion on his face. "Edward said that you weren't prone to wearing shirts."

Jacob rolled his eyes. "I do wear them in mixed company."

Jasper grinned as he pulled a black t-shirt emblazoned with the image of a motorcycle out from among the other offerings. "There ya go. At least you'll look sporty and here." He tossed the boy a pair of socks. "Don't want your toes turning blue."

"As if." Jacob grinned as he quickly finished dressing. "Better?"

"Lots, but I'm sorry to say that I don't share my underwear."

"No worries, Dude." The teen held up his hands. "I prefer that you didn't anyway. I can handle commando."

The Major gave a little snort as he continued to grin. "He says that now, but just wait."

A serious expression darkened Jacob's face as he retook his seat. "It's bad isn't it?"

"Aint no walk in the park." Jasper placed the clothes down on the side of the sink as he drew a breath. "Carlisle has a serious aversion to repeating himself, so he does his level best to make the first time count. Your best bet is not to fight him cause that will only piss him off and make things worse for both of you. Been there and done that. ...Shit, I probably lost the t-shirt in one of Alice's cleaning fits."

In spite of the nervousness that he was feeling, Jake managed to smile.

Jasper ran a hand through his tangled honey wheaten locks before he sighed. "Jake, look I'm real sorry that I backhanded you like that. I was being a dumbass. I get protective of my family, especially of my mate, sister and Mom, but I was way out of line. I knew better and I should have never allowed things to get so far out of hand."

"It's cool, Dude. I screwed up, too. I'm sorry that I got your butt in trouble. I already told Alice and need to tell Carlisle, but I guess it's only fair that you know this also. I wasn't trying to be a dick to Rosalie. I got my signals crossed. I didn't want Blondie to feel bad since I don't really think that she did anything wrong. I figured the best thing to do was to keep things the same." Jacob shrugged as he glanced down at his sock covered feet. "I didn't know and I will talk to her if she'll listen."

The soldier punched the boy lightly in the shoulder. "She'll listen. Rose isn't as bad as people think." Jasper suddenly squinted as he thought for a moment. "Well, she can be, but once you get to know her she's a lot more complex than you realize."

"I think the word is complicated."

"She's like an onion. She has many layers."

"Oh my God! Did you just call her an ogre?"

"I said nothing of the kind."

"Yes you did."

"You can't prove anything. I was taking about a common root vegetable; salt of the earth type of thing."

"Common vegetable from Shrek."

"SHHH! Rose and Carlisle are not big on animated classics, past or present. Neither of them would get the reference so just let it go, brother."

"She would murder you in your sleep." Jacob held his sides as he doubled over with laughter.

"If I slept," Jasper nodded in agreement. "Which is why we're not going to say anything."

"Oh, Dude, my lips are sealed." He waved Jasper off as he continued to battling to subdue his fit of mirth.

Once some semblance of normalcy had returned to the youth, Jasper crouched down near him and spoke softly. "Let me give you a heads up. When you walk into the study, Carlisle will have you sit since he generally wants to talk. Let him. A lot of the time he is feeling you out to see if you are remorseful. If you are, he'll usually go a bit easier on you, but don't try to fool him. That's a wise old goat that we call Papa. The five of us have run him around the block more than a time or two so he's up on tricks of the trade."

Jacob nodded in understanding.

"I've already told you not to fight him. He tends to have a plan and if you don't fight, he'll go from point 'a' to point 'b' and it will be over with quick like. If you fight you're going to detour him through points 'c' and 'd' before he finally gets back to 'b'. You don't want to do that. Trust me, Jake. Make it as easy on yourself as you can."

"What's he going to use? I ... well I heard you." The Quileute looked embarrassed as he admitted to eavesdropping on Jasper and Carlisle's interaction. "I know that you guys are pretty damn tough so I can't imagine what he uses on you to get that sort of reaction. I had thoughts of rebar or something like that."

Jasper smirked as he stood back up and nervously shifted his weight while running his hand through his hair again. "Ah. Well..."

"Sorry, Dude. I didn't mean to. You know."

"No, it's alright. I do know. It wasn't really like you could block it out or anything. It's all good." The Major swallowed hard then let out a quiet sigh. "Carlisle doesn't need any sort of implement. He will use a belt every once in a while when we've gone well beyond the pale, but in general he tends to rely on his hand."

Jacob lowered his head slightly and his eyes grew wide while a broad grin broke across his face. "His hand? You're trying to tell me that his hand had you caterwauling like that?"

"I have never caterwauled. I expressed my discomfort, but I don't caterwaul."

"If you say so." The young boy chuckled. "Man Jasper, I thought you were some tough ass shit, but damn."

"Alright now, watch your mouth before you end up with your tail lit up before your mouth gets soaped. That's usually an Emmett specialty, but I can see you already headin' down that path and tryin' to one up him.

And for your information, I am tough. I've been in too many brawls and battles to count and I've never lost a one."

"Yet a smack on the ass gets you yelling?"

"Yeah, you keep thinking light of it. You'll be changing your tune soon enough."

"Hey, Carlisle popped me once a little while ago. It stung, but it wasn't all that bad. Shit, my Dad would take a switch to me and he hung on to an old ping pong paddle while I was growing up. You want to talk about something that could put a hurtin' on you."

Jasper smirked. "I'm familiar with switches from back in the day, but I'm telling you Carlisle doesn't need anything like that. He'll get his point across and leave you sore for a few days if he has a mind to do so."

"Oh please. And here I was worried that he was going to beat me senseless with a tire iron. This is going to be a piece of cake. Hand spanking? Kid's play," Jake clicked his tongue dismissively. "You wouldn't have survived around the Black house. People see my Dad in a chair and think that he's some sort of push over." The boy snorted. "One day I really fucked up and tried to take his old truck for a drive. I was about eight or so at the time. No clue what I was doing. Ran that old Ford into a stock pond. Once my Dad was sure that I wasn't hurt from the accident he saw to it that I would be hurting days later. That was probably the worst paddling I have ever gotten. It was nearly three full days before I was able to sit down at the table for supper and sitting at my desk in school?" Jacob laughed. "Not in my dreams. Everyone knew that my tail had gotten busted and they all knew why. I was so flippin' embarrassed, but I never did anything quite that stupid again."

The soldier nodded. "I've done my share of stupid and paid the price; both as a human and as a vampire. As rough as it was to take a tanning from my Pa's strap, Carlisle's hand can be way worse. Luckily he never tears up your hide when he's mad. Now that would be a scary thought."

"I could take it. Can't imagine Carlisle really pissed off anyway, but if it's just his hand..."

"Well, you come talk to me after and let me know if you still feel the same way."

"Please, how bad can it be?"

Jasper began to respond when a voice from the hall cut through the small room like a knife. "That will all depend on how well you behave, Jake."

Jazz turned to find Carlisle in the doorway.

"Oh, hi Papa. I was just taking Jake here a change of clothes since his last two sets bit the dust."

"That's very thoughtful of you, Son." Carlisle crossed his arms as he tilted his head ever so slightly while his expression grew stern.

A worried look came over Jasper and he tried to pinpoint somewhere that he might have gone astray. "I wasn't grounded to my room was I?"

"Nope. Not at all."

"O-kay. Apparently, I have managed to do something that I'm not aware of having done."

Carlisle just stared at his son causing the Major to fidget nervously. Finally the elder inquired softly, "Did you refer to me as a goat?"

Jasper's dark eyes went wide as he silently cursed himself for not having chosen his words more carefully. "You've been there that long?"

"I've been close enough."

"I meant that in the best possible way, Papa."

"Uh-huh."

"It's true, Papa. Goats are intelligent and incredibly resourceful; tough, too. Now are you going to tell me that doesn't describe you?"

"I have always thought that goats were fairly stubborn animals."

"I prefer to think of it as self-assured."

"They're smelly, too. You forgot that," Jacob added with a grin.

"Shut up. You're not helping," Jasper snarled in a whisper.

Carlisle nodded as he glanced from one boy to the other until he resettled his gaze squarely on Jasper. Crooking his finger, he called his son over towards him. Jasper hung his head as he slowly crossed over to his father. Spinning his finger in a circle Carlisle clearly indicated to the soldier that he required him to turn around.

Jasper followed the unspoken order and was reward by a light whack to his backside bringing a soft hiss from between the Major's clenched teeth.

"Upstairs. I'll come get you when we're ready for you."

"Yes, Sir."

Jazz grabbed the surplus clothing before skittering by Carlisle and out into the hall. It was only then that a soft voice called to him.

"Jazz?"

"Sir?"

"Thank you, Son. For everything."

Jasper smiled slightly as he gave a single nod before retiring to his room.

Once the soldier had departed, Carlisle stepped completely into the bathroom. Closing the door behind him to afford him and Jake some privacy, the patriarch spoke in a calm caring tone. "How do you feel, Jacob? You look calmer."

"I'm back in control, if that's what you are asking?"

"Did Jasper manipulate your emotions?" Traces of disapproval colored Carlisle's words. "He's not allowed to do that without your permission and the effect won't last once he's gone."

Jacob thought for a moment trying to remember if he felt weird at any point then shook his head. "No. I don't think so. I had already gotten myself under control when he came down. I think just shooting the bull with him helped me relax more. He didn't need to do any of his Voodoo on me."

"Good, then I can take it that you are ready to do this?"

The boy stared at the innocent looking white bar with disgust and gulped. "Can't we just skip this, Carlisle? Look, you won't hear a peep out of me. This really isn't necessary."

"I'm afraid that it is, Jake. I gave you plenty of chances to clean up your act, but you have simply refused. Now I have to take action to discourage this behavior in you."

"Well, do you have a different flavor or something?"

Carlisle could not suppress the light smile that curled his lips.

"Actually I do, but I doubt that you'll like that any better. I have some Irish Spring if you wish to try it. It has a much more pungent bouquet. Let me warn you though that Emmett completely despises it; which is why I keep it on hand." The elder turned the water on as he reclaimed the simple white cake of soap. "If you really want something stronger..."

"That's alright. I'll leave that to Emmett." Jacob pushed back as far are the limited space would allow.

"Wise choice." Carlisle sighed softly as he ran the bar through the water and briskly rubbed it renewing the thick coating of lather. "Alright, Jacob. Let's get this over with."

* * *

**AN:** Well folks, I missed my connecting flight to Denali, so you're stuck with this one. It is almost done though so that's a plus. I almost think that Carlisle is out of his league with Jacob. Will have to see how he holds up in the next chapter. ...and he thought Emmett was a handful.

Can't thank y'all enough for sticking with me. I have the most AWESOME readers ever! Because of you guys, "Dark Justice" pulled in a second place win in the Non-Canon Awards which is totally awesome! It was up against some serious competition and I'm just tickled that it managed to hold its own. I also won first place for author; thank y'all ever so much once again and the most amusing win that we landed was a first in best quote... all because of Jazzy's smiley face contacts. *snicker* The support is just totally humbling. Y'all truly make it all worthwhile.

My endless thanks to Splinter for all her hard work and support in keeping me going and helping me to not look stupid. ;-)

Now to see if I can escape from Carlisle and Jacob long enough to reach Alaska. *rolls eyes*


	6. And This Could Be It

Jacob's eyes watered as the soap assaulted his senses. His eyes and sensitive nose burned and then there was that God awful taste. His stomach lurched causing him to gag and cough as the suds attempted to slide down his throat.

"Don't spit it out until I tell you or we'll start over again," Carlisle warned sternly as he carefully monitored the young shifter for any signs of true physical distress.

Large sorrowful deep brown eyes pleaded with Carlisle before Jake sputtered some more while clamping his teeth down as lightly on the bar of soap as possible without letting it get away.

"Sorry to tell you this, Jacob, but that look doesn't work on me. I've had nearly a century to build up my immunity." A brief smile ghosted across the doctor's face as he shook his head at the boy's attempts to gain his sympathy.

Sulkily, Jake lowered his head as he grumbled while permitting some sud laden drool to flow pass his lips.

"Nuh-uh. There will be none of that, young man." Carlisle placed his hand under Jake's chin and gently lifted the youth's head until it was level again. "Keep your head up. We would not want someone seeing you and come to the conclusion that you are rabid, now would we?"

Jacob glared at the blonde before he closed his eyes with a growl of protest, but Carlisle noted that the boy's neck and shoulder muscles relaxed as he ceased fighting and fully submitted to enduring his punishment.

Crossing his arms, the elder called the boy's name. When the brown eyes turned to him once more Carlisle spoke softly.

"Do you think that you've learned your lesson?"

"Mmrumph."

Narrowing his eyes, he watched the boy closely. "I'm not entirely sure that I believe you; not to mention that growl really should buy you extra time. I thought that you were wise enough to know that it is never a good idea to threaten your disciplinarian. That can most certainly lead one to believe that you are not of a repentant mind set, young man."

A stream of unintelligible but desperate sounds came from Carlisle's rascally culprit.

"Hmm." Grasping the end of the bar firmly, Carlisle quietly ordered, "Let go."

Jacob didn't need to be told twice. The youth gladly spat the repulsive bar into the vampire's hand before scrunching his face up in disgust.

"Blech! Oh my God. Do you have any idea what that tastes like? Yech! That's cruel and unusual punishment. I should called CPS and the Humane Society on you. Cruelty to animals, Carlisle! Yuck."

Wiping at his tongue, the young shifter went to stand only to have a firm hand push him back down on his seat.

"Not just yet."

"Oh come on, Carlisle. Have a heart."

"Jake, you've barely had that bar in your mouth for a minute. If any of my children had found themselves in your place, their sentence would not be nearly as brief. You should consider yourself quite lucky."

The doctor placed the bar on the side of the sink and quickly rinsed his hands while the boy watched the flowing water with thinly veiled desire.

Grabbing a towel, Carlisle dried off before placing it within Jacob's reach then looked back at his captive with a soft sigh.

"I will be expecting you to mind your language from now on. I know that well ingrained habits are hard to break, but I have faith that you can over come this one. If you don't we will find ourselves right back here again. That is a promise, Jacob." Carlisle cocked a brow as he stared intently into the Quileute boy's eyes. "Mark my words well and don't test me on this."

"I won't. I'm sorry, Carlisle. I've got it. You made your point loud and clear."

"Excellent. Alright, then go ahead; rise your mouth and get cleaned up so we can take the rest of this discussion to my study. I would like to get this over as quickly as possible. I believe that you would wish the same?"

Jacob's head was under the tap in flash as he let the cool stream of water wash the worst of the soapy film away. Swishing and spitting several times he finally came up for air and dried his face before dropping the towel in the little hamper beside the sink.

"Aw, man. I can still taste it. Do you have a mint or some gum? Anything at all to kill this." He scrapped his tongue against his teeth trying to subdue the acrid flavor.

"Sorry, Jake. I'm afraid that I'm fresh out. You can use some toothpaste once we're finished upstairs. That should help," Carlisle offered sympathetically.

"Thanks. I guess I'll live."

"I never doubted that for a moment." Placing a guiding hand on Jacob's shoulder, the elder aimed him out the door, but the youth had only taken a couple of steps before he stopped and looked back at Carlisle.

"You're wrong, Carlisle."

"What am I wrong about?"

"I don't want to get this over as quickly as possible. Oh, don't get me wrong, I do want it over. It's just that..." Jake shuddered. "I don't know. I don't want to go through with it. How can I get through it when I'm afraid to begin?"

"It has already begun. This was the starting point. You've already taken that first big step. It just gets easier from here on out."

"Easier for who?"

"For both of us." Carlisle paused for a moment before adding, "and for your father."

Jacob's brow furrowed. "My father?"

Carlisle nodded. "He wants you to call him once this has all been resolved. He's worried about you, Jacob. Billy wants to make sure that you're safe."

"Oh man, more likely that he is waiting to give me an earful."

"No, Jake. He needs to know that you're alright. He's concerned about having put you in my hands and I don't blame him at all. I would feel the same if circumstances were reversed." The Cullen patriarch placed a steady hand on the boy's shoulder. "You are a young man teetering on the verge of adulthood, but you are still your father's responsibility. Billy does not cherish the idea of having to relinquish his duty towards you and have someone else act in his stead. The fact that someone else just happens to be me can only make it harder for him to bear."

Jacob could see regret and sadness reflecting in those pitch black eyes as Carlisle continued softly.

"I promised him that you would come to no harm, but it is only natural that he will want to assure himself of that fact. He is waiting for word from you to know that you are okay, so the longer we drag this out, the more anxious he'll become. If for no other reason than for Billy's sake, I would like to expedite things. Can you understand that now?"

The shifter glanced down as he nodded. "Yeah. I really fuc..."

Carlisle cleared his throat as he cocked a brow and effectively altered Jacob's word choice.

"..messed up, didn't I?"

"Well, I would not use your recent behavior as an example of the way an ideal house guest acts, but it also was not all your fault."

"I'm sorry for what was."

"I know that you are, son." Carlisle noted the pain in the boy's face before turning him back around towards the stairs at the end of the hall. "Let's go take care of that and then you can give your father a call to let him know that you survived."

Jacob moved nearly impossibly slow as they made their way up the stairs, but Carlisle was more than willing to allow the boy to set his own pace. It was easy to see the guilt beginning to weigh heavily on the youth's broad shoulders as he came to grips with his misbehavior and the trouble that it caused.

Seeing that self imposed misery on Jacob's face had nearly caused Carlisle to rescind his decision to punish the lad. The elder doubted that there was any punishment harsher than the one Jacob's conscience was already inflicting. The idea of commuting the boy's sentence to something milder was extremely tempting, but the haunted look in those warm brown eyes forced Carlisle to stand firm. Jake wasn't so different from his other children. He desired forgiveness with the exact same vigor and would have to be taken to task before he could forgive himself. It was all right there reflected in his eyes.

Carlisle sighed inwardly as he opened the door to his study and directed the youth inside, but as he followed a realization hit him. Jasper had been right all along. He did think of Jacob as one of his own. Just now he had even gone as far as to correlate the boy's reaction with those of his own children. The acceptance of his feelings for the youth along with the knowledge that he would defend Jacob from danger with the same ferocity that he did the other members of his family helped Carlisle steel his resolve to do what he knew to be right by the boy.

"Jacob, please take a seat."

_Shit! Jasper was on the level. Fuck. Alright the key is not to fight him. I can do that._ "Carlisle, can I ask a favor before you.. well? It's just something that I really need to do and I don't think I'm going to be in the mood after. It's kind of important."

"Of course, Jacob. What is it?"

"I need Rosalie to know something. Could you call her for me?"

"Would you like some privacy?"

"No. You need to hear this, too. Besides, I don't know that she will listen to me if you're not around to mediate."

"As long as you aren't actively trying to antagonize her, she will listen."

"Not my plan at all, but you still should stay."

Carlisle nodded. "While I go get her, make yourself comfortable. Sit, Jacob. Try to relax."

"As if."

The blonde patted his charge on the shoulder as he pointed towards the chairs in front of his desk before leaving the boy alone.

"Damn. This is like being sent to the principal's office at school." He sat down and stared at the heavy ornate dark wooden desk. "Wonder how old that is?" Looking at the polished surface a bit more closely, he noticed a number of cracks and gouges that marred the smooth finish. "Been though a war or two, haven't ya."

Unable to suppress his nervous energy, Jake got up and moved around the room marveling at the array of books, antiques and artifacts that filled the bookshelves lining the walls. Carlisle's office was brightly lit and much more comfortable than he had imagined considering how the others spoke about it.

_What were you expecting? Whips and chains on the walls?_ He snorted as he walked over to the window and looked out into the forest. _Of course not. Only rebar rods and a couple of lengths of four by fours. Maybe a set of iron manacles. _

"Jacob?"

The velvet soft voice broke through his musings and caused Jake to flinch before he regained his focus. Still looking at the pane of glass, he saw the reflection of Carlisle and Rosalie standing just inside of the door way which had been closed behind them. Rose had her arms crossed and her stiff stance showed that she was on her guard as she leaned against Carlisle for support.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Jake took a deep cleansing breath before turning around to face the person he had hurt the most.

"Rose, listen, I didn't mean what I said. I was being an ass because I figured that was what you would expect of me. I never expected you to apologize and I guess that just confused me. I figured that it would be easier on both of us if nothing changed. I didn't want to hurt you.

I'll understand if you can't, but I'm hoping that you will forgive me and maybe give me another chance. I like that you keep me on my toes. It would be nice if we could maybe be friends after this is all over or at least go back to insulting each other without something like this happening again.

I am really sorry, Blondie. Can you forgive me?"

Rosalie didn't make a sound as she stared unwaveringly at the shape shifting boy. For long tense moments the only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock and Jacob's own racing heart.

Carlisle wrapped his arm around his daughter's shoulders and gave her a little squeeze which seemed to break her concentration. Her eyes flickered to her father before she glanced back at Jacob while heaving a sigh.

"I'll forgive you under one condition."

Carlisle raised a brow, but before he could utter a word Jacob responded with, "Name it."

"Promise me that you'll do something about that flea infestation. Having to deal with you is bad enough, but I simply refuse to tolerate your parasites."

Rosalie turned her gaze towards her nails as she carefully considered the new color of polish that Alice had bought before she slyly looked up to find Jacob grinning at her.

"Whatever my Lady of Bleach-bottle Blondes commands," the boy stated as he graced Rose with a low bow.

"Alright you two. That's enough," Carlisle rebuked while a smile tugged at his lips. "Now kiss and make up so we can seal this deal."

"Dad, I am perfectly fine with forgiving that mongrel, but there is no way I'm going to kiss him."

"Oh come here, Rosie. Let me plant a nice sloppy one on you."

"Okay, ewww. On that note, I'm going back to my room to see if I can find some brain bleach so I can get that image out of my mind."

"I'm sure you have some in the bathroom cabinet. It's goes under the name of Clairol."

"Enough, I said. Jacob, come here." Carlisle ordered a little more forcefully.

The boy slunk over to the elder vampire and took his place next to Rosalie under Carlisle's watchful eye.

"Now, I know that you are playing, but you both also know that you need to tone it down for a while. If I have to tell you again..."

"I know, Dad. We'll cool it."

"Yeah, what she said." Jacob turned towards Rosalie and held his hand out for her to shake it. "Truce?"

"Truce." Rose took his hand without complaint and shook it firmly before pulling him into a hug as she whispered in his ear, "For now."

"Rosalie Lillian."

Quickly releasing Jacob, the beautiful blonde bounded towards the door just out of her father's reach.

"I'll just be going back to my room now, Daddy." She smiled before glancing back at Jacob with a little sorrow in her eyes. "Good luck, Jacob. I am sorry."

"Happens. Not your fault." He shrugged a bit then gave her a reassuring smile before she nodded and slipped through the door, closing it behind her.

There was silence once again in the room before Carlisle softly called Jacob's name.

"I know. Take a seat right?"

"Please."

Jacob flopped down in the leather chair and began to tap his foot nervously while Carlisle circled around his desk to take his own seat.

Leaning back in his chair, the patriarch considered the fidgeting boy for a few moments before beginning in a calm quiet tone.

"Jake, I appreciate your maturity in apologizing to Rose. It means a great deal to me that you realized your mistake and were looking for a way to make amends. I also appreciate you clarifying the reasoning behind your attitude towards Rose when her apology was offered to you. I understand how that breakdown in communication occurred even though I still don't accept that as an excuse for rudeness."

"Really wasn't making an excuse."

"I know."

Carlisle drew a breath as he struggled to come to grips with the awkward situation.

"Jacob, if you are gong to continue to stay with us, there are rules that you must abide by. As I said earlier, they are few and center around respect for each other. The banter between you and Rosalie is quite disrespectful and even though it is acceptable to the both of you, it creates stress in those around you. Within the confines of our already stress laden circumstance what wouldn't normally be much of an issue becomes explosive."

Jacob snorted. "Yeah, I get that."

"You are welcome to still joke around, but tread a bit more lightly until we're back to some semblance of normal."

The shifter nodded and Carlisle sighed inwardly in relief.

"Since you and Rose have buried the hatchet, I see no reason for this issue to be addressed any further."

"So I'm free to go? Awesome!" The Quileute began to get up, but a shake of the coven leader's head settled him back down in his chair.

"I wish it was that simple, Jacob, but your greater offensive was the fight that broke out between you and Jasper."

"Look Carlisle, Jasper and I have made nice also, so if that's the issue I think ..."

"Jacob, I am well aware that you have sorted out your differences, but the transgression itself has not been addressed. We do not physically fight with one another and the destruction that both of you are responsible for is deplorable."

"I'm pretty handy, Carlisle. I'll fix up whatever I can."

"Yes, you will. You and Jasper will be cleaning up that mess downstairs..." A thought suddenly occurred to the elder. "You don't happen to know how to replace window glass do you?"

"I do, Papa. Just order the pane and I'll fix it."

With a low groan, Carlisle rubbed his eyes while leaning his head back against the chair.

"Jasper, I was not aware of the fact that you had been included in this conversation."

"Dang, Jazzman. You have just seriously f-ed up big time. Dude, you are so not supposed to let on that you're listening. Don't you know...OW. Rosie, what did you do that for?"

Carlisle dropped his hand from his eyes and was rather surprised to see a grin on Jacob's face.

"I am sorry for the interruption, Jake. It would appear that MY CHILDREN have forgotten their manners. They know that it is only common courtesy to be considerate of others and not listen in on conversations that don't pertain to them."

Soft music could suddenly be heard drifting down from Edward's room as the mind reader switched on his CD player.

The voices fell silent before Emmett quietly injected, "Sorry, Jake. Didn't mean to be butting in, Dude. I'll just be... Gaming. Yeah, that will work. Jazz, up for some one on one?"

"Um..."

Carlisle ground his teeth while bowing his head to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Go on, Jasper just don't become too involved since you have work to do."

"Yesh, Sah."

Jacob smirked and gave a short snort drawing Carlisle's attention.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Jacob, if you have something to say you are welcome to say it or at least enlighten me on where you find humor in this situation."

"It's not the situation really. I know that I'm in it pretty deep and after hearing... Trust me, I know that this isn't going to be fun, but after what Alice told me... It's just that I know that Jasper just got a little shaken and it is funny that you can do that.

The Pack sees you as a pushover. They respect your position as leader, but don't see you as a threat at all. Jasper is a threat. Hell, Jasper is considered The Threat. I know that no one would ever admit to being scared of a vampire, but Jasper makes them all worry a bit more and they really don't want to mess with him unless they have to. But here you are making him all jumpy.

It's just really ironic, Carlisle. I know better, but someone else would think that you ruled with an iron fist or something, which is just hogwash."

"No iron fist needed. Pops there rules with a cold steel palm."

"Em-mett!" Carlisle growled at his son's interruption.

"Holy crap! Did I say that out loud? OW! Babe, would you quit pinching me? You're going to leave a bruise even if you can't see it."

The bruin's outburst was followed by a few seconds of angry mumblings that were too quiet for Carlisle to make out. The sounds of doors opening and closing quickly followed only to give way to the blaring racket of a video game battle which rapidly drowned out Edward's melody.

_I never expected this to be easy, but this is just beyond the pale. _

Satisfied that his offspring were now more fully engaged in their distractions, Carlisle returned to the matter at hand.

"Now where were we? Ruling with an iron fist. That is actually the way the majority of Covens are maintained, but that was never what I wanted. It goes right back to respect. I respect my family members as the unique individuals that they are. I want them to be able to freely express themselves instead of cower when I walk by. I never could understand the appeal of that sort of total control."

Carlisle thought back to the Brothers in Volterra and shook his head sadly.

"Maybe I'm just too lazy to maintain that sort of control because you must always be on your guard in that situation. It's much easier to lead a group of people whose respect you've earned than whose servitude you command through force. Eventually the tyrant will find himself either ruling a kingdom of one or reduced to serving another once a stronger foe rises to the challenge and dethrones him."

Jake scratched his head as he considered Carlisle's logic then nodded.

"I get that. It's the same way for an Alpha. You have to keep an eye on your flank because there is always someone just waiting for that moment of weakness so they can challenge you. Everyone wants to be the leader because they think it's all glory, but really the responsibility is hard as hell."

The elder cleared his throat and received a quiet "my bad" in return.

"That sort of absolute power is difficult to maintain, so when Edward came into my life I had to make a decision as to what I wanted; what sort of man I wanted to be and how I wanted my Coven to be structured. The results of that decision are what you see today.

I didn't want a Coven. I wanted a family. I wanted loyalty born of love and trust instead of dictated by fear. I've been blessed to find extraordinary individuals who share my vision. We respect each other and have grown to love one another. They all know that I would lay down my life to defend them as I know that they would do the same for me."

Jacob glanced down at his hands as his mind wandered over recent events before formulating the question that continued to nag him.

"If you guys really are the family that you claim to be, then why is Jasper scared of you?"

Carlisle found himself baffled by the question.

"He is not scared of me, Jake. Believe me, I would be the first to know if he was." Thoughts of his son's projected emotions dominated his thoughts as he quickly searched for a reason behind Jacob's assumption.

"But he is. He gets nervous. His voice changes. He becomes timid instead of the monster badass that he comes across as at any other time. I mean, come on, Carlisle," Jacob scoffed. "You would have to be blind to not see that as fear. Jasper is freaking scared to death of you."

Carlisle rubbed his temple and slowly released a held breath before responding.

"What you are misreading as fear is mainly remorse." A glance into the boy's eyes told the doctor that Jake didn't understand the distinction. "When you love someone, Jake, you want them to be pleased with you, don't you? You enjoy praise from your father; from Bella."

"Yeah."

"My relationship with Jasper is no different. Now ask yourself how you feel when you know that you've been caught doing something that you know to be wrong? When Billy has caught you up to mischief, were you scared of him?"

"I was scared of what he would do to me."

"Ah, but were you scared of him personally?" Carlisle raised his hand quickly to stop Jacob before he could respond. "Let me make this easier. Downstairs and then also when we came in here, you were nervous. You appear to have calmed down some since we've been talking, but when you first walked through that door over there, did you fear me?"

Jacob took his time before he answered with conviction. "I was scared, still am, but it's not you that I'm scared of. Guess it's the same as with my dad. It's what you're planning on doing that puts me on edge."

"It's the unknown that bothers you."

"More like the known; like I know that it's going to hurt like hell."

Carlisle clicked his tongue as he gave Jacob a disparaging look.

The boy groaned, growing exasperated with Carlisle's disapproval. "I'm trying, but it's going to take time."

"Do you require more incentive?" The vampire leaned forward and rested his hands on the desk as he interlaced his fingers while his expression turned dead serious.

"No." Jacob pressed his back further against the chair as his foot began to tap again. "I'm good."

Carlisle held the boy's gaze for several seconds before he allowed his body language to relax back into a neutral tone.

"Jake, you've been spanked before, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Then you know the pain is fairly fleeting and often quite cathartic. I can assure you that while yes, it will hurt, no harm will come to you. My children know this as well so punishment is something unpleasant that is to be avoided, but it's not frightening. I have given them no reason to fear punishment at my hand because they know what to expect and they have no reason to fear me."

Once again a disembodied voice filtered into the room. "Unless you get ignorant with Esme, right Jazz? Ouch! That was my head, Rose. What are you trying to do? Knock my brain out?"

"Aint like you've been using it anyway, Bro."

"Oh very funny, soldier boy. Let's see how you like it?"

The sounds of mild fighting erupted from the room across the hallway.

Jacob watched Carlisle close his eyes and bow his head almost like he was praying before the elder rose to his feet.

"Please excuse me for a moment, Jake."

"Sure thing." The shifter's interest was piqued as the patriarch stepped out of the room and disappeared for a moment.

"Now you've done it, you buffoon."

"Me? You were the one who started it!"

"How did I start it? You are the one who can't keep his big mouth shut."

Jacob jumped when two loud cracks silenced the argument and within seconds Carlisle was back at the study door. "Ten minutes. Rose, please time them and let them know when they can leave their corners. Boys, you may resume your game playing after that provided that you behave yourselves. If I have to come in there again, I will have no other option, but to separate you. Understood?"

"Yesh, Sah."

The blonde waited for a second.

"Emmett?"

"Got it, Pops."

Carlisle stood in the doorway and cradled his head in his hands as he sneaked in a few precious moments of calming quiet before lifting his head to look back at his main miscreant.

"If they were frightened of me, logic would dictate that they wouldn't act up like that."

"Can't argue." Jake held his hands up in mock surrender. "You win."

Carlisle gently closed the door then crossed his arms as he leaned back against the door frame.

"Jacob, I believe that we have delayed the inevitable quite long enough. While we are waiting for the Gods of War to return to their virtual destruction, let me explain my method with you so that there are no surprises."

Jake could feel his cheeks heating up with embarrassment at just the thought. "Don't think there is much to explain. You're just going to wail on my butt. Pretty straight forward."

Carlisle smiled slightly. "I wouldn't have used that exact term, but you do have the basic idea."

"Um?" The youth swallowed hard and averted his gaze suddenly as embarrassment and nerves got the better of him.

"It's okay, Jacob. What to you want to know? You can ask me anything."

"Jasper said ... " His eyes abruptly locked on Carlisle's as he rapidly spoke. "How bad was I?"

The elder pushed himself off the wall and walked over towards the boy as he softly spoke. "Well, Jacob, why don't you tell me what you see as instances of your misbehavior?"

Jake rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Hate this." Drawing a deep breath and lowering his gaze again to stare at the floor he began to tick off his less then proud moments.

"I treated Rose like shit."

"Language, mo buachaill. I shouldn't have to keep telling you this. Repetition is not something I'm fond of."

The stern hard look in Carlisle's onyx eyes caused Jacob to shudder. "But it's true."

"And you have already made amends for that particular transgression. Continue."

"I've sworn...a lot."

"Yes, you have and while I thought we had fully addressed that downstairs, you now have me questioning my effectiveness." Reaching out, Carlisle placed a finger beneath Jacob's jaw and raised the boy's head until he caught his eyes. "However, if you can mind your tongue for the rest of the night we will call that offense wiped off your slate as well."

"I'll try."

"You'll do more than try, young man."

Jacob nodded as he found himself once again feeling like he had been caught acting up in school and was back in the principal's office.

"Anything else?" Carlisle cocked his head to the side as he carefully gauged the boy's growing trepidation.

"Broke that rule about not fighting in the house."

"Not physically engaging other family members at all," Carlisle quietly corrected as he watched anxiety give way to confusion.

"Your family members."

"And yours as well. At least that is how we feel about you."

"What the..."

"Jacob, you are as much a part of this family as Bella is. We all care a great deal about you even if some show this is their own unique ways. Realize that I am not looking to replace your family in any way, but you are very much an extension of ours. We have already fought at each other's side. Now just know that any one of us will fight to the death to protect you."

* * *

**AN:** Somehow I doubt that Jake will actually appreciate that the Cullens have his back, not at this point anyway, but at least now he knows where he stands. I really thought that I was going to get him and Carlisle through this tanning in this chapter, but Jake's brothers-to-be had other plans. I simply could not get them under control. I thought about just cutting the interruptions out then decided to just trust the that the characters know what they are was suppose to be on the lighter side anyway.

Many many thanks to all of my wonderful readers. You guys are simply the best. My undying heartfelt thanks to my fabulous beta. Poor Splinter has to put up with a great deal of stupidity right now as my new computer and I battle it out. Could not do this without her. Stupid computer. I thought new was supposed to be better. Pfft.

Well, come the next chapter Jake will finally learn that while Carlisle is compassionate, the Pack certainly pegged him wrong as a pushover. ;-)


	7. But Apparently Not

"Carlisle, I don't need your or anyone's protection. I can take care of myself just fine."

"I don't doubt that you can, Jacob. I just want you to know that you don't always have to feel the need to take on the world by yourself or with just the backing of Seth and Leah. Of course my protection does come with a little extra proviso."

Jake's eyes narrowed slightly as he cautiously considered Carlisle's stance. "Not that it really matters, but what sort of proviso are you talking about?"

"I will protect you from all dangers up to and including hazards that are self inflicted. Should it come to my knowledge that you are up to something that is going to put you in harm's way needlessly, just like with my children, I will stop you and impress upon you the foolishness of your actions. Granted, that may mean turning you over to your father, but if need be ..."

Carlisle allowed his words to drift off, but his meaning very clearly registered with the youth.

"Oh hell no. This is a one time deal here. We aint doing this again, Carlisle."

"Oh yeah, like we haven't all thought that same thing at least once. Good luck with sticking to it, my wolfish bro cause luck is what you are going to need when you cross Pops again."

Carlisle's jaw clenched tightly before he let out a long suffering sigh.

"Emmett, I can see that my warning was not sufficient enough for you. You and I will be having a little tutoring session on the meaning of privacy later this evening."

"Oh MAN. That just slipped out. Come on, Pops. Can't you give me just one more chance?"

"I've given you many more chances than should be necessary to correct what appears to be becoming a habit, Son. I'm sorry, but that ship has sailed. You chose not to heed my warning so obviously I am going to need to make a stronger impact if I expect you to behave."

"I would rather you impact on someone else."

A quiet chuckle drifted down from upstairs.

The patriarch raised his voice slightly to make sure that there could be no excuses from any of his children as he announced, "Since all of you seem to want to be involved and are so overly concerned with Jacob's fate, I've decided that the next one that interrupts will take his punishment for him. If you want to be involved that badly, I will make this one time concession and allow for direct involvement. Do I have any takers?"

Jacob tilted his head and listened. He had never known such absolute silence in all of his life.

"Good. Then let's keep it that way or I will make good on my offer."

Returning to his desk, Carlisle leaned against the front edge with his arms loosely folded as he focused on the wolf boy and blocked out all other distractions.

"I do hope that this is a one time deal, Jacob, but I thought it was only fair to let you know where I stand with regards to you. I will never let harm come to you if there is any way at all that I can prevent it."

"I don't want you to think that I don't appreciate the fact that you care and all, but we'll just have to see."

"Fair enough and for now we should only concern ourselves with the present. You asked me how bad I considered your behavior to be. I would say significantly so, but why was that a question?"

Jacob dropped his gaze to his lap, finding the various pockets of the cargo pants much more fascinating at the moment than the elder vampire's eyes. Flicking away a piece of lint he mumbled softly, "Jasper said that sometimes you ...if what a person did was bad enough...sometimes... well sometimes you would take a belt..."

"Do you think that you deserve that harsh of a punishment?" Carlisle inquired softly as he leaned forward and ducked his head slightly to glimpse the boy's face.

"I don't know. Is that what Jasper... well?"

"That would be between Jasper and myself, but whether I strapped him or not makes no difference. First, you are different individuals which is something I always take into account. Second, while your offenses are the same, the situation is not . Jasper knew the rules; you did not." The elder reached out and gently tipped Jacob's head back up. "No, Jake. I will not take a belt or anything else to you, though I will admit that I did consider one of Esme's wooden spoons to be an appropriate implement when looking at the damage that you've done to all of her hard work."

"I'll clean it up. Make things right."

"Your cohort will be helping with that." Drawing a breath to steady himself, the patriarch continued. "Alright, Jake let's get this over with. You will be punished for the fight and subsequent destruction. Your other offenses..."

"How many?"

"Pardon?"

The boy swallowed hard as he struggled to hold Carlisle's obsidian gaze. "How many licks are we talking about?"

"There is no set number. I find that the lesson sinks in better if you ponder on the reason that landed you over my knee as opposed to maintaining your focus on a specific number that you must react like it was some sort of finish line."

"Hold on. Wait just a damn minute here. Over your knee? Oh hell no, Carlisle. You're not putting me across your lap like some little kid. I don't fucking think so."

"This is not open for discussion, young man. I have my reasons..."

"I don't give a damn about your reasons. That's not happening."

In an instant, Jacob found himself yanked from his chair and pinned down across the slick surface of the desk. A hellacious burning sting engulfed his hindquarters before his brain could catch up to just what was happening.

Jacob's rapid heartbeat and shallow respiration allowed Carlisle to quickly monitor the boy's condition as he leaned his weight against the shifter's back to speak softly in his ear.

"That was your final warning to mind that tongue, mo buachaill. Now, I am going to let you up and am willing to explain my reason for putting you across my knee, but know this; you are not in charge here, Jacob. While I am being lenient with you, I will not allow you to dictate to me how your punishment will play out. Am I understood?"

"Whatever."

Another brisk swat caused the boy to inhale sharply through his clenched teeth before he felt the pressure disappear completely from his back.

Straightening up, Jake rubbed at the burning sensation in his haunches as he turned to face the coven leader. _Maybe pushover really isn't quite the right distinction. Fuck but that smarts and he's a lot faster on the draw than I imagined. THAT will take some getting used to. Benevolent vampire, my ass.  
_

"When you find yourself in this sort of predicament with me it is prudent to mind your attitude," Carlisle warned in a stern tone while quickly examining the boy's state. Jacob nodded and sulked as he leaned against the desk leading the elder to deduce that what was hurt most were the youth's feelings.

Heaving a sigh, the leader softened his stance and ran a hand through his hair to calm himself.

"Jacob, in the majority of cases where I am forced to physically correct my children I do so with them across my lap. It is more...personal and I understand if that makes you uncomfortable, but it allows me to more easily offer any support needed. I need to maintain that connection and with you I am facing a completely new challenge making that even more important.

I know the amount of force required to make an impression on my children. From working with my patients, I have an understanding of the control needed should I find myself in the position to discipline a human. Your unique physicality necessitates a trial and error approach with error not actually being an option.

Now, my first thought on how I was going to handle this was by my normal method; slacks down and over my knee you go. However, before I went down stairs to claim you I was reminded that your clothing had been destroyed twice today and there was concern about an omission in your attire. Frankly Jacob, spanking your bare backside would solve a lot of problems for me since I can more easily observe the physical effect and be assured that I'm not causing any damage to you, but I don't want you to be more uncomfortable than necessary.

With that in mind, I've decided to allow you to keep your pants on, but that will require more caution on my part. The greater the contact, the easier it will be for me to monitor you. That is what makes this particular position absolutely mandatory at this time.

It's not about treating you like a child, Jacob. It's about keeping my promise to your father by making sure that you remain safe."

Jacob kept his head down as he thrust his hands into his pockets with a near silent grumbling.

Carlisle closed his eyes as he massaged the bridge of his nose while offering, "Or you can drop the slacks and bend over the desk right now. That would be your only other option, so make your choice, son."

The patriarch let his hand drop back across his chest as he watched the youth expectantly.

Jacob shifted his weight from foot to foot as he carefully considered those two options, neither of which were very appealing. He didn't have any real issue with exposing his body and he reasoned that Carlisle had most certainly seen his share of naked butts over the course of his lifetime. There wasn't much to be embarrassed about there, and yet he just didn't care for the idea of giving up the meager protection that the thin cotton pants offered. The boy had never been put in the position where he had to decide between his pride or comfort and either way he picked, he was certain that he was still going to lose.

"Jake, I wish that I could give you all night, but I can't. You need to come to a decision."

The sting in his rear had dulled to a mild throb which helped to tip his preference.

Avoiding the doctor's eyes, in a whispered voice the shifter announced, "I'll keep the cargoes."

"Very well and for what it's worth, I think that is a wise choice even if it makes my job more difficult."

When Jake continued to keep his eyes downcast, Carlisle whistled sharply to gain his attention. With a crooked finger, the elder directed the boy to follow him as he walked over to the couch and sat down.

_This sucks. Could this suck any harder? _Jacob huffed, but obediently shuffled over then stopped to stand a few feet in front of Carlisle.

"Jacob, it will all be over before you know it." The vampire patted his right thigh as the wolf boy stared blankly at him.

"Carlisle, I don't know that I can do this." Jake was suddenly overwhelmed with nervous energy. Shaking his head, the boy took several steps back as he held both hands out, palms towards Carlisle as if to fend him off.

"It's alright, Jake. Fear is a completely natural reaction. Come here and just have a seat with me. Give yourself a few minutes to calm back down."

The youth bowed up slightly. "I'm not scared, Carlisle. I'm just not ready."

The doctor nodded, acknowledging that he understood better than the boy realized as he gave an inward sigh.

"No wonder you and Jasper clashed. You're too much alike. Neither of you can stand to drop your guard for fear of being seen as vulnerable."

"I'm an Alpha. I don't have a vulnerable side. I can stand alone and take care of myself. I don't need you and I don't need your family getting in my way. l'm a man of responsibility, Carlisle. I'm responsible for Seth and Leah. I'm the leader. I call the shots, not you. I don't have to stay here and listen to you. The only reason that I'm here is to protect Bella. I'm not here to be treated like some sort of pet that just pissed on the good rug.

You talk about respecting each other; then how about showing me some respect? This is just stupid and I'm not going to be part of this sick game any longer. You can pull that power play shit with your minions, but you can so leave me out of it."

Carlisle's expression was completely unreadable as he surveyed Jacob with cool detachment. Silence stretched between the man and his young charge creating an oppressive atmosphere in the room until the tension grew too great for the boy to stand it any longer.

"Say something, damn it."

"What do you want me to say, Jacob?" Carlisle's voice was calm, carrying very little inflection. "Either you will submit and accept the consequences that your actions have earned you, or you won't. That decision remains with you."

"But you said..."

"The details of your punishment are mine to set, but I will not force you to accept them if you are this uncomfortable. We can leave now and return you to your father if you would like. I'll just need to grab my keys."

"I already told you that Sam..."

"And I have told you that it is a risk that I am willing to take, but once you are back home you are to remain there until this incident between us and the Pack is settled. I won't have you coming back when that forces you to cross through Sam's lines." Carlisle let the words sink in before he continued softly. "You will stay with Billy, as will Seth and Leah. Your father and I have already discussed the possibility of this occurrence and the limitations on your movements will be upheld on both sides. As already stated, you have become a part of this family and we protect our family by any means necessary. I will not have you endangered by stupidity and the simplest solution to prevent that is to deny you access to the property until it once again is safe."

"You can't do that."

"I most certainly can." The patriarch's eyes shown a weary sadness, but even in their darkened state they were bright with determination. "And I will. This is my property, Jacob and I will have you escorted from it. I'm sure that one of Charlie's deputies can lend a hand should that be required."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

A soft knock came on the study door interrupting the dispute.

Carlisle continued to hold Jacob's hard glare as he answered, "I'm engaged at the moment."

"I know that you are, dear, but I believe that I might be able to help."

Esme slowly opened the door and eased her way inside the study with a bit of a shudder at the stifling tension.

Sidling up to her mate, she kissed Carlisle's cheek. "Go take a walk. You both could use a break right now."

"I'm fine, Love. There's nothing to worry about. We're just hashing out the details of where to go from here."

"Yeah," Jake agreed while stubbornly glaring into the black abyss of Carlisle's eyes. "And I aint going anywhere as long as Bella stays."

A delicate hand caressed the elder's cheek before Esme cupped it lightly to turn him to face her, effectively breaking the eye contact between her mate and the youth. "Let me handle talking to Jake while you get some fresh air. A new perspective can sometimes help with a stalemate."

Carlisle blinked rapidly a few times before his brow furrowed as if he had just become fully aware of his wife's presence then he shook his head.

"We're okay."

"No, you're not. Now go and let me take over for a little while." When he continued to hesitate, she caught his face between her hands and forced him to focus entirely on her. "Some things require a mother's touch."

Carlisle exhaled in a soft sigh as he closed his eyes. "I don't want you putting yourself at risk."

"It's Jake. He is no more dangerous than our own children and I survive just fine with them. Now go on. Go spend a few quiet minutes out on the balcony and enjoy the night air. You've been cooped up inside far too long. You need to give yourself a chance to clear your head and Jacob needs a few minutes to calm down. I can't handle another room getting destroyed by a giant wolf."

Esme glanced over Carlisle's shoulder to briefly meet Jacob's eyes before he looked away, clearly embarrassed.

With a slight nod, the elder conceded to his mate's request as he lightly brushed his lips against her forehead. "Maybe just a few minutes, but at the first sign of trouble, call. I won't be gone long."

"Take your time. He won't give me any trouble. Besides that, Em and Jazz are just across the hall and Edward can be here in less than a second. I'm perfectly safe."

Bowing his head, Carlisle allowed himself to be led to the door and ushered out into the hall to make his own way to their bedroom reluctantly leaving his mate in possible peril.

With Carlisle out of the room Esme could breathe a little easier as she turned to address the wolf boy.

"Sit down, Jacob."

"I rather just stand."

"Sit down, Jacob," Esme repeated in the same stern no nonsense tone as she stood waiting for him to comply.

Within seconds the stiff necked tall muscular boy visibly wilted before the matriarch. Slowly he shuffled over to the couch and sunk down on the soft surface with a groan.

Quietly Esme padded over to sit down next to him. Crossing her legs and placing her folded hands in her lap, she settled in as she waited for him to make the first move. Sadly, her closer proximity appeared to make the boy shrink further down on the cushion in an attempt to make himself smaller and less of a threat. Finding that they weren't going to get anywhere like this, Esme placed a hand on his knee and succeed in getting him to look at her.

"What's wrong, Jacob? What is it that is really troubling you?"

"I don't know, Esme. I thought that I could suck it up and go through with it. It didn't seem like that big of a deal, but now I don't think that I can and I don't want to leave either. Bella needs me."

Gently, the matriarch stroked her fingers through the youth's short dark hair. "We all need you. You've been a tremendous help to us, Jacob and we would hate for you to have to leave, but Carlisle has made his decision."

"He can change it."

Letting her arm encircle his shoulder, Esme pulled him closer with a whispered, "Baby, come here."

The shifter resisted for a few seconds before allowing himself to be enveloped in the woman's embrace as she slowly rocked him soothingly.

"When Carlisle's mind is set, there is very little chance of him changing it. You might as well wait for Rainier to waltz over to Hawaii."

"Continental drift. Could always happen."

Esme smiled while placing her cheek against the top of his head. "And figuring in the length of time it would take for that to happen, it would take Carlisle even longer to rescind his decision."

"Can't you talk to him? He'll listen to you."

The woman exhaled with a puff that fluffed the boy's hair. "If I thought that Carlisle was being overly harsh with you or if I felt that you hadn't earned a bit of discipline, I would. I don't want to see you suffer any more than I would see my children suffer, but there has to be consequences for our actions, Darling. If we could do whatever we wanted without repercussion the world would be in more of a state of chaos than it already is."

"But Carlisle's consequences are barbaric and antiquated."

"Carlisle is a little old fashioned, but his methods work. Believe me, I wish they didn't and that there was a better way. I prefer a less hands on approach when it comes to addressing my mischief makers, but I can't deny that Carlisle gets quicker results."

"That's because they are scared to cross him."

"Are you scared, Jacob?"

With his head buried against her chest, the youth began to shake it before his shoulders heaved as he drew a breath to whisper, "Yes."

"There's nothing to be scared of, my sweet boy. Carlisle isn't a brute. I can't say that you won't be sore for a little while, but it's nothing that will last. He's a healer by nature. The last thing that he wants to do is hurt you."

When Jacob didn't appear convinced, Esme ease him back from her so she could look into his face.

"Let me share something about myself with you that might help. A long time ago, I was married to a man who was the exact opposite of Carlisle. He viewed me as his property to do with as he wished. There would be nearly nightly beatings as well as ..." Esme stopped for a moment and closed her eyes tightly as she swallowed back the bitter venom that rose up in her throat.

Jake reached out and took her hand causing her to open her eyes to find his deep brown ones filled with pain and rage. Patting the back of his hand, she smiled weakly.

"It's okay, Jacob. It was a long time ago and Charles is very long gone. I ran away from him...twice. The second time was shortly after I found out that I was carrying his child. I refused to allow my baby to be raised in those conditions and I finally escaped him for good.

It wasn't long after that when Carlisle found me on death's door and brought me back to life. He was everything that Charles wasn't. He is good and kind and loving. He cares about me, my happiness and our children more than anything else in this world. If there was any reason at all to fear him, baby, you can rest assured that I would not be here. I will never allow myself to repeat the mistake I made by trying to remain with Charles as long as I did and I surely would not expose a child to that sort of tortuous life."

Jacob sat there speechless, absolutely transfixed by Esme's tragic tale. As he slowly came back to his senses, he moved a strand of hair out of the woman's face while staring at the gleaming tears that she tried so hard to blink away.

"I... I didn't know."

"It's not something that I tend to talk about. I would rather forget it, but that's mostly impossible."

"I can understand why."

"I shared this with you because I don't want you to have any fear. Nervousness is okay. God knows that we are all prone to that, but fear and Carlisle just don't go together."

Jake blinked at her. "Wait a minute. We?"

"Uh-huh." Her smiled brightened a little at the shock on the youth's face. "Carlisle is my mate, but he also was the one who brought me into this life. I'm afraid I haven't always made things easy for him."

"But..."

"I was a newborn once, you know? A newborn with some pretty bad habits that had to be controlled. Stole a sailboat once...and a baby. That was the straw that broke the camel's back." Esme became momentarily lost in thought, the smile never fading from her face. When she looked back at the slack jawed boy she couldn't help but giggle. "Forever is a long time to behave like a proper lady, Jacob. We all have moments where the rules become more of an interesting challenge. None of us are immune from testing them to make sure that they have remained firm and fully enforced." Giving him a wink, she ruffled up his hair then pulled him into a hug.

"So I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

Releasing the dark haired youth, Esme sat back with a more serious expression.

"I'm afraid not. At least not unless you are planning on going home."

He shook his head. "I won't leave."

"Then I would say that your mind has been made up and you know what is expected of you. Now my big bad wolf just needs to stand strong and accept the consequences of his folly." Gently cradling his face between her hands, Esme looked deep into his eyes. "Jacob Black, you can handle this and Carlisle will help you through it."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Smiling, Esme pulled his head down and kissed his forehead before letting him go.

"I'm going to get Carlisle and let him know that he can come back in."

Jake swallowed hard then nodded. "Should I be standing in a corner or something like that?"

"No." Esme shook her head while trying to encourage the boy with a soft smile. "You are right where you need to be." She slipped off the leather cushion and took a few steps towards the door before glancing back over her shoulder. "Just trust Carlisle. If you have questions or concerns, don't be afraid to ask. He'll get you through this and we'll help you feel better after. You are never alone, Jake. Every good leader has a strong support system to lean on when they need a little extra boost. Don't be afraid to rely on the strength of those who love you. It's not a sign of weakness. That's what we're here for."

With that she was gone in a blink leaving the boy to ponder her words.

Jacob groaned loudly as he leaned back and covered his face with his hands.

_I can do this. I have to do this. I won't leave Bella and I have already disappointed far too many people, myself included, by acting like a complete ass. Oh yeah. Jasper tells you not to fight with Carlisle and what do you just have to go and do anyway? I hope that you're proud of yourself. _

His thoughts shifted from one topic to the next but the central point remained the same. When he focused on Esme's inner secret he found that his breath hitched in his chest. Swallowing hard, he forced the air out of his lungs and let his mind go blank as it tuned into the sound of his slow breathing.

_Victim of domestic abuse who has even found herself sitting in a room probably very similar to this one and she didn't freak out. Damn, but you suck. You're scared of what Carlisle will do to you while his wife has the balls to stand up and take what sends you running for the hills. Sure it will hurt, but it's not like he's going to break anything on you. Fuck, you dislocated your shoulder and broke a leg while goofing around with Paul and didn't think anything about it. Just snap it back in place and get right back to it. What will this be but a few smacks on the ass? Alright, maybe a few hundred. Who knows. Still it can't be that bad. _

He groaned again as he reached further back in his memories.

_Why can't I remember how bad an ass whipping hurts? I know it hurt, but for the life of me I can't remember how bad. I know it seemed like I was going to die at the time, but I was always back to screwing with something right after so it couldn't be all that terrible._

"It was so long ago that I just can't remember."

"How long?"

Jacob's hands shot off his face and he sat bolt upright to find Carlisle standing a few feet away.

"W-What?"

"What was long ago and how long ago are you talking? Some how I'm willing to believe that we judge time a little bit differently. May I?" The blonde motioned towards the seat next to Jacob.

Nodding, the boy scooted over a bit to make more room then waited for Carlisle to get comfortable before he spoke.

"I was... well... I was thinking about the last time my dad..." A slight blush darkened Jake's bronze cheeks.

"Ah. I understand. There's no need to explain any further if it makes you uncomfortable."

Jacob blew out his breath in a huff. "I don't think anything about this night is going to make me comfortable anyway so it's no big deal." Looking down at his hands the youth gathered his waning courage before leveling his gaze on the patriarch's eyes. "It was right before my mom's accident; maybe a month. Embry and I had a little bit of a fire fetish. We lit a bonfire behind the garage and were daring each other to stick our hands in the fire and see who could hold out the longest." He rolled his eyes at the memory. "It was pretty stupid but we thought that we were really bad ass at the time." Suddenly he stopped his story telling and his eyes grew large as he watched Carlisle.

The elder shook his head and waved the boy on. "It is going to take time. The fact that you caught yourself is enough of an improvement for now. Go on."

"Well that really is all that there was to it. We singed the hair off of our arms and while playing with the lighter I melted Embry's hair a bit. I was surprised that he didn't catch, but then more surprised for some reason when there was a puff of smoke coming off his head. That was the moment that my dad felt the need to take a walk out to the garage to go get some parts for his truck. He was pissed."

"I can imagine."

"He hauled both of us into the garage and lit into us with that old ping pong paddle. I know that it hurt, but I really can't remember it. I can remember how Embry's hair curled up when touched by the flame and I can remember the smell of singed hair, but I can't remember how bad my as-butt hurt." His brow furrowed as his eyes seemed to go out of focus with his memory before his pupils contracted as he watched Carlisle. "Why do you think that is?"

"The mind selectively blocks memories that it either doesn't consider important or those that are too traumatic for it to relive."

"Do you think I was traumatized?"

"From what I know of your father and of how very much he loves you, I highly doubt that." The doctor smiled lightly.

Jacob shifted a bit then asked in a low voice, "Do you think I'll remember this?"

"For a little while. Hopefully not too long. With any luck I can find the same key that your father did so that you will recall the lesson, but not the pain." Carlisle thought for a second before adding, "At least I hope that you haven't continued to light your friends on fire. That could prove to be a very hazardous pastime around here." The patriarch smiled as he gave the boy a wink.

Jacob laughed and shook his head. "No, I never played with fire after that and Embry has a full head of hair to prove it."

The shifter chuckled a bit more before releasing some of his pent up tension in the form of a sigh.

"I'm sorry for causing a scene like that, Carlisle. That ... I never meant for that to happen. I don't know why I freaked out like that."

"I fear it was my fault. I was so focused on resolving this, that I pushed you a bit too hard and too fast. For that, I apologize."

Jake extended a hand which Carlisle gladly took and shook firmly before releasing his grip.

"Mistakes happen," the wolf boy smiled before he sighed again as he turned expectant eyes on the Coven leader. "So..."

"Are you ready?"

"No," Jake answered with a snort. "But I don't think that I would ever be ready."

"I suppose not." Carlisle closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. When he opened them again, there was a stern determination to his gaze. "Jacob, what occurred in here a little while ago is expunged entirely. As far as I'm concerned it never occurred. With that knowledge, please remind me of why we are here."

"I started a fight with Jasper which caused some serious destruction to your home. I promise that I will fix what I can and pay for what I can't."

"You and Jasper are responsible so both of you will share in the clean up and repairs."

Jake mumbled his agreement before he swallowed hard to dislodge the lump in his throat.

"You now know that within this family fighting with one another is not allow. There will never be a reasonable excuse for violently physically engaging another family member."

"About that. I have a question, Carlisle."

"I'm happy to answer it."

The boy squinted one eye as he thought before finally asking, "Technically, wouldn't tearing my butt up be considered a violent physical engagement? And if so, since there is no reasonable excuse for that isn't this form of punishment really not allowed?"

Carlisle cocked an eyebrow as a slight smirk formed on his lips.

"Very clever, my boy. Very clever, indeed. I guess I shall have to make a slight adjustment in the wording of that rule. You are never allowed to physically engage in anger."

Jake carefully studied the expression on the leader's face before sighing in defeat. "I'll have to think about that to find another loophole."

"You certainly get credit for trying." With a soft chuckle, the patriarch patted the youth's shoulder before clearing his throat and taking on a more serious expression.

"Jake, in lieu of the fact that you weren't aware of the rules before hand, the amends that you have already made with Jasper is sufficient in proving to me that this lesson has been learned. BUT, because of the leniency being shown right now, should there ever be a repeat of this transgression you will be punished swiftly and fairly severely. Mark that well and don't let me catch you fighting with my children again unless it's in jest. Clear?"

"Yes, Sir," the boy responded respectfully.

"Regretfully, we still have the destruction of property and overall disobedience to contend with. You may disagree, but I feel that these two points fall under the realm of common sense. You shouldn't have to be told not to destroy the property of others. The disobedience is a matter of common courtesy. I know that you are under no obligation to obey me outside these walls, but within them when a request is made of you it is generally expected that request will be followed.

As with Jasper, had you stopped and walked away when asked to do so, we wouldn't be in this situation at all."

Carlisle gave time for his words to register with the youth and it wasn't until the boy nodded in understanding of his crimes that the patriarch continued.

"Jacob, it is for those two final transgressions that I feel you've earned your place across my knee. You already know that I have discussed this with your father and though he was understandably reluctant, he did agree with my decision to correct your behavior.

Is there anything that you want to offer in your defense?"

After a couple of seconds, Jake shook his head as a soft, "No, Sir" passed his lips.

"Very well. You already know that you and Jasper will need to put the living room back in order, but with that one acceptation, once your spanking is over this matter is closed. There should be no need for anyone to mention it again. All will be forgiven and we can go back to what passes as normal for our anything but normal lives."

He gave the boy a gentle smile as his last statement drew a brief snort of amusement from Jacob before inquiring, "Ready?"

"As ready as I'm ever going to be, I guess."

This time when the vampire leader patted his thigh, Jacob leaned over and shimmied across it with a resigned sigh.

Carlisle shifted him forward and felt the shifter stiffen.

"Try to relax, Jake."

"Easy for you to say."

"Son, I have you. I'm not going to let you fall. You're going to be just fine."

Rubbing Jacob's shoulder's firmly, Carlisle relieved some of the tension in the youth while also acclimating his hand to the boy's warmer body temperature.

Jake crossed his arms on the cushion and buried his face in them as he tried to follow the doctor's order to relax.

"My God, Carlisle. I feel like a three year old."

"That's what happens when you act like a three year old having a temper tantrum."

"Hmm. Yeah. Guess you do have a point."

Tightening the arm that he had wrapped around Jacob's waist, Carlisle pulled the boy more firmly against him while resting his free hand on the seat of the shifter's slacks.

"Last words?"

"Sorry?"

"Accepted."

The slightly cupped hard hand connected briskly with Jake's upturned bottom with enough force to cause the boy to yelp before biting his lip to silence his protests. Another stroke and his hands clenched into fist. The third and subsequent swats fell a bit lighter with Carlisle settling into a slow steady rhythm which threatened to hypnotize Jacob.

When he felt the boy involuntarily relaxing, Carlisle breathed a sigh of relief. Jacob's initial reaction had been a cause for some worry. The cessation of breath, the violent spike in his heart rate and the faint scent of blood that the doctor could only imagine coming from some self inflicted injury were indicators to him that once again he had handled Jake too quickly and possibly too hard. While the lighter strokes weren't nearly as effective at the onset, his wolfen miscreant bore them with no indication of undue stress which served to ease the vampire's fears.

_Sometimes you have to go with quantity over quality._

A rather out of place smile briefly curled the patriarch's lips as he shook his head at his own musings before slipping back into the serious state of mind that the situation deserved.

Quickening his pace, Carlisle peppered every inch of Jacob's backside with light blows until the boy began to squirm in an attempt to find some relief from his relentless hand. It was only then that Carlisle's attack slowed back to his original pace while adding a bit more force behind the strokes.

"Be still, Jacob."

"I'm trying, but...damn, Carlisle. My ass... feels like it's on... fire."

A sharp solid swat caught the more sensitive weight bearing area of the youth's right cheek drawing his breath out in a hiss through clenched teeth.

"Now is the time that minding your tongue would be most prudent."

Jake grunted at the next stroke before nodding his head. "I get that."

The boy's ability to talk eased Carlisle's mind further and gave him the confidence that he needed to strengthen his strokes along with his resolve. Even though he continued to carefully monitor the boy's vital signs, he more fully focused on his task and soon Jacob was keenly feeling the patriarch's displeasure at having been put into this situation.

"Jacob Black, this sort of behavior will never be tolerated from you. You have disappointed me, but more importantly you have disappointed your father. He and I both know that you are far better than the behavior that you have displayed here this evening. You may as well come to realize right here and now that you will be held to the higher standards we know you to be capable of achieving.

Taking on the mantle of Alpha is a huge responsibility. I know that you are already aware of this because of our earlier talk, but what you seem to have missed is the fact that your pack will look to you to set the example in all things."

Carlisle's hand came to a standstill to rest on the back of the boy's thigh giving the lad a chance to fully focus on his words.

"With great power does indeed come great responsibility. You must keep in mind that when you are out and about, you are the representative of your clan as well as your pack. You should always strive for others to see you in the best possible light, Jacob. I am sorry that you have had this burden placed on your shoulders at such a young age and I am completely aware that is entirely my doing, but there is nothing that can be done to change that now.

You can not allow the rage of the wolf to dictate your actions any more than we can allow our thirst to dictate ours. Use the power that it gives you, but never become its slave. If you have trouble controlling it, seek the counsel of your father. Billy is a very wise man. He loves you greatly and will help in any way that he can."

Carlisle moved his hand back to rest against the youth's behind as he judged the greater heat radiating from the battered area.

Gently rubbing some of the sting out of the shifter's haunches he continued softly. "Should you require additional support, you are always welcome in my home. I can act as a neutral party and will offer any guidance that you seek which is in the realm of my knowledge.

You are a leader, Jacob. I will expect you to act like one."

Tipping the boy a bit further forward, Carlisle quickly reignited the fire across Jacob's rump before concentrating his efforts where the reminder of the lesson would linger for a bit longer.

"That means that there will be no fighting with my children, no damaging the property of others, and you will show respect to those around you from now on or you may very well find yourself answering to me again. Do I make myself clear?"

A particular sharp blow to Jake's sit spot earned a yelp from the boy and his hand shot back to try to protect his tender burning bottom.

"Jacob, move your hand."

The wolf-boy shook his head as his breath hitched in shallow gasps. "I can't... can't take..."

Carlisle leaned down close to his ear as he grasped the rogue arm firmly by the wrist and pinned it at the small of Jake's back. "Yes you can. It's nearly over and you've done exceptionally well."

His breathing ragged, Jacob tucked his free hand under his chest before laying his head back down with eyes tightly closed. With his teeth clenched as he fought waves of physical and emotional pain, he responded as clearly as he could.

"Crystal clear, Sir."

"That's a good man. That's exactly what I want to hear."

Jacob felt a surge of pride at the elder's comment. Not only was it complimentary, but Carlisle had referred to him as a man. His heart swelled even as several more hard smacks lit up his tail further before Carlisle appeared satisfied that his point had been made.

Releasing his hold on the boy's wrist, Carlisle rubbed Jacob's back before gently patting his shoulder.

"It's over, Son. After a rough start, you've done very well, Jacob. I'm proud of you, but let's not have to do this again."

The Quileute's breath continued to hitch as he battled a mixture of emotions and blinked away the tears he refused to allow Carlisle to see. Finally after a few minutes that seemed more like hours to the youth, Jacob slipped off the patriarch's lap allowing the doctor to help steady him until he had regained his strength and balance.

"Are you okay, Jacob?" The concern in Carlisle's eyes caught the boy slightly off guard.

"Okay is kinda a relative term, don't you think?"

A soft smile graced Carlisle's face, but worry quickly clouded his expression as Jacob shivered and nearly collapsed before the elder could catch him.

"ESME!"

Gently, the doctor laid his charge on the loveseat before crouching down next to him to quickly check the youth over.

"I'm alright, Carlisle. Really. I'm just tired all of a sudden and my behind is hurting like a... let's just say I'm sore and leave it at that."

Jacob looked up to find Esme standing behind her husband looking over his shoulder at him apprehensively.

"Esme, please run and get Jake a bottle of water."

"What happened? Carlisle, what did you do to him?"

Her accusatory tone caused the boy to chuckle. "He kicked my butt good."

"He's mildly dehydrated, but he should be just fine. All of the evening's stress has taxed his system. Now what he needs most is some fluids and rest." With skill gained over several lifetimes, Carlisle swiftly completed his abbreviated exam. "When was the last time you had something to eat?"

"I had a bite of that hotdog before I bounced it off the back of Blondie's head."

"Honey, please; a bottle of water, not too cold, and something light for him to snack on."

Esme seemed to simply vanish only to reappear with a bottle of water and a bag of chips.

Gratefully accepting her offering, Jacob shifted his weight onto his hip as he sat up enough to drain the bottled water in several gulps. He hadn't realized how parched his throat had become until the cool water raced down offering soothing relief. With his thirst slacked, the boy settled back down on the loveseat.

Once again the matriarch disappeared before his eyes to return this time carrying a pillow and blanket.

"Esme, I really am okay. You don't need to bother yourself with me."

"You are okay when I say you're okay, young man." She carefully raised his head then gently returned it to the downy support of the pillow before wrapping the blanket around him. "A mother knows what her child needs better than he does."

"Esme..."

Carlisle looked up from taking Jake's pulse and shook his head. "Don't. Just accept it."

Jacob held the doctor's eyes for a moment before looking back up at the fretting woman with an appreciative smiled. "Thank you."

Returning his smile with one of her own, the matriarch kissed the boy's forehead then sat down on the edge of the couch with him as she stroked his hair.

Under the administrations of her comforting touch, Jake found himself relaxing further until he was having a difficult time keeping his eyes open.

"Close your eyes and go to sleep, baby. You're safe. I won't let anyone hurt you like this ever again."

Even in his sleep hazed state, Jake couldn't help but notice the look that Esme gave her mate.

"Don't fight, Mama Bear. He didn't hurt me." A twinge of pain from his searing hot rump caused him to roll his eyes. "Well, maybe just a little, but it's not that bad. All Carlisle did was give me something to think about the next time I'm tempted to really fuc...screw up. There is no way that I'm going to let myself get back into this position so you gotta know that he got his point across. You were right about his method working and that whole quick result thing."

Jacob extracted an arm from beneath the blanket and reached out to brush his fingers lightly against Esme's cheek.

"I'm so sorry for everything that I put you through tonight. I'll find a way to make it up to you."

"Jacob Black, you have already paid the price for your mistakes," Esme quickly glared at her husband. "And then some." Looking back at Jake her expression softened once more. "You have absolutely nothing to make up for."

"Except for your wolf modified den. I really need to get to cleaning that up."

The boy began to rise, but it was Carlisle's hand on his should that stopped him.

"Rest. The house can wait for a few hours. The only thing I want you to do right now is get some sleep. Those are doctor's orders, young man." Carlisle ruffled Jacob's hair before he stood and stepped away to allow Esme to mother her newest cub.

"Carlisle, maybe you should take him to the guest room. I'm sure that he will be more comfortable in bed."

"That's an excellent idea, Sweetheart."

"Actually, I kinda like it here," Jake stated as he rolled his pillow up and settled in better.

Carlisle leaned against the back of the guest chair that had most recently contained the youth and crossed his arms while cocking a brow with a smile tugging at his lips.

"Truly?"

"Well yeah. It's comfortable enough and all your stuff is pretty cool. ...Unless you don't want me in here."

"I don't mind at all." Carlisle reached over to his desk and dimmed the light. "Get some sleep. Esme and I will let you have your privacy."

Reluctantly, the matriarch followed her mate's lead. Getting up she kissed the boy's cheek and whispered, "If you need anything at all, just call. We won't be far away."

"I could use one thing."

"What's that, Jake," Carlisle asked with concern returning to his dark eyes.

"Could I borrow a cell phone? Mine is somewhere in the living room. Kinda lost it when I phased and I really need to call my dad."

Smiling lightly, the patriarch pulled his phone from his pocket and handed it to the boy. "Not too long though."

"Nah. Just long enough for him to know that I made it. If I stay on too long he'll just end up bitching me out for having been so stupid. I just need him to know that I'm good...and so are you."

Carlisle bowed his head while still smiling and sighed at the reassurance and acceptance of his young Quileute. "Thank you, son."

"Don't mention it, Pops."

"HEY, that's mine!"

"EMMETT!"

* * *

**AN:** Not entirely sure what to do with it now. I had planned on one last chapter to give the siblings a little bonding time with Jacob, but Emmett did such a good job of capping this chapter off... Hmm. What do y'all think?

Thanks everyone for still putting up with me. Thanks to Splinter, my wonderful beta whom I would not be without. Once again, memories of Esme the boat thief are lovingly stolen from the incomparable edwardian1901 and her wondrous "Esme the Artful Dodger." I do love that Esme managed to pull this one together for me. Carlisle was floundering and giving me fits so I rang up his lady love and she set the wolf cub and her mate straight. Woo hoo! Go Esme!


	8. Welcome to the Family

The pale sunlight streaming in through the partially drawn curtains illuminated Jacob's peacefully sleeping form as he laid stretched out across the bed on his stomach with his pillow balled up in his arms. The distant howl of a wolf caused the boy to stir and he slowly began to wake.

With a slight groan at the intruding light, the shifter turned his face away from the glare and wiped the sleep out of his eyes to take in his surroundings. It took several seconds for his groggy brain to remember where he was, but when he rolled over onto his back, memories of last night's events came flooding back.

Inhaling sharply at the searing pain in his hindquarters, Jacob shifted onto his side and noticed a glass of iced water on the nightstand with a straw in it. Suddenly realizing how parched he was, the boy was reaching for the glass when a voice called out from by the door.

"It's about time you woke up. We were beginning to think that you were going to sleep the day away."

Glancing up at Rosalie, Jacob cringed slightly.

"Well shit, if I knew that I had to look forward to seeing you first thing in the morning, I wouldn't have bothered waking up at all."

The boy pulled his hand back away from the tempting glass and raked his fingers through his dark hair as sleep lost its final hold on him. "What time is it anyway?"

"Nine fifteen."

"Oh, shit. I still have to get all that mess cleaned up so we can get that window fixed. Man, Carlisle is going to be pissed off with me."

Tossing the sheet off to the side, Jacob sat up with a yelp before he felt his cheeks flush hot with embarrassment. Looking down he was horrified to find himself sporting a pair of over sized dark blue satin boxers with a slot machine emblazoned across the crotch and the word "JACKPOT" in bright red letters scrawled across it.

"Oh my GOD!" As quickly as he had tossed it away, Jacob reclaimed the sheet and tugged it around his waist while gritting his teeth against the renewed burning sensation that encompassed his butt.

"What the hell? Where? How? Oh, my God. What in the hell did you guys do to me when I was asleep?"

A sly smirk graced the woman's face as Rose couldn't help but find amusement in the boy's discomfort.

"Well now that you asked..."

The young Quileute's eyes grew huge as he feared the very worst involving some sort of twisted vampire rite of passage.

"Emmett wanted to stick your hand in some warm water, but we wouldn't let him. Instead he dug out a pair of underwear that he had never opened figuring that you would be more comfortable in them than anything else. He must like you or at least feel sorry for you since he was saving those shorts for a special occasion. They are something he brought back from our latest vacation."

Jacob continued to stare at Rose who was finding the situation all too humorous.

"But..." The shifter's confusion deepened. "The last thing I remember is falling asleep on the couch in Carlisle's office. How did I get here and who...?"

Rose rolled her eyes as she glided across the room towards a chair in the corner near the window.

"Esme had Carlisle carry you up and get you changed. Don't worry, your dignity is still intact." She gave him a sideways glance as she smirked. "At least whatever amount of dignity a dog can have."

Gathering a neat stack of clothes from their spot on the chair, Rose tossed the jogging suit onto the bed.

"You can put those on, but for God's sake, go take a bath first. Wet dog smell is bad enough, but right now you just reek."

"Well let me tell you something, Sweetcheeks, you aren't exactly April fresh to me."

Rosalie gave a little snort of annoyance as she stalked towards the bed causing Jake to draw back slightly while wondering if he had read her playful signals wrong.

"Here. Hold out your hand."

"Nothing doing. Why do you want me to do that?"

"Just do it," the blonde answered with a quiet huff.

Cautiously, the wolf boy extended his hand palm side up only to have a small white tablet unceremoniously dropped into it.

Eying it with suspicion the youth queried, "What's this? Some sort of date rape drug."

Rosalie glared at Jake for a moment and growled softly in mild frustration.

"As if. It's just percocet. I found some in Carlisle's bag. It will help relieve the pain while your body heals. I figure if you're going to be installing a pane of glass it would be easier not to be sore at the start of the job. It's a small enough dosage that it shouldn't make you loopy, but if it's not strong enough to do the job let me know. I have a few more stashed away."

"I take it that Carlisle doesn't know about this."

"Nope. He would not approve so let's just keep this between us." She handed Jacob the glass of water and breathed a sigh of relieve as he quickly swallowed the pill down.

The dark haired youth carefully placed the glass down before turning his questioning gaze back on the young woman.

"Isn't this sorta risky for you?"

"A little, but worth it. Whether I like it or not, you are a part of this family now and we look after our family."

"We sure do," came a bright happy chirp from the doorway. "But Daddy is going to find out, Rose. He'll be a little upset, but not too too angry since he'll be proud of you for wanting to help Jake out." Alice quickly lowered her voice to nearly a whisper and added, "But don't let on that you know that. Just do the contrite route and tell him that it will never happen again."

Flopping down on the bed next to the wolf boy, Alice lightly punched his shoulder and grinned.

"So how are you feeling?"

"Like I was run over by a bus." Jacob's brow furrowed as he was struck by a thought. "Hey, wait a minute. I thought that your visions didn't work when I'm around."

"They don't." Alice reconsidered for a moment as she tipped her head thoughtfully. "Well sometimes when you're in another part of the house I get a glimpse here and there, but it's so fast that they are hard to make out."

"So how do you know that Rose isn't going to be in trouble?"

The pixie laughed as her smile reached her eyes causing them to sparkle.

"I don't need to have a vision to know that. I just know Daddy. He always finds out and he always forgives, especially if we have a good reason for doing the things that we do."

"Well he didn't forgive me so easily," groused Emmett as he walked into the room while giving his backside a rub.

"Aww, come here, Emmy."

The bear shuffled over to his wife and gave her a kiss before allowing himself to be wrapped up in her embrace.

"The lotion and ice didn't help?"

"It helped some, but Pops really laid into me. Jeeze, but what happened to his sense of humor?"

"You pushed him too hard, Emmett and you know it."

Jacob glanced towards the source of the deep southern drawl to find Jasper standing just inside of the doorway with his hands clutched in front of him.

A sense of peace washed over the room and the Quileute found himself completely relaxed and at ease.

"I was just trying to help out, Jazz. You know lighten a really tense situation."

"I know that, Em as does Carlisle, but there is a time and place for everything and you missed the mark by a mile this round."

Heaving a sigh, the bruin laid his head against his wife who continued to pet him gently.

"No magic pills for me?"

"Afraid not, lover. We'll have to find some other way to take your mind off your discomfort."

A devilish grin slowly curled Emmett's lips. "I have an idea."

"Could you two at least turn the radio up if you're going to do that? It's not much, but every little bit helps," the final of the Cullen kids called from over Jasper's shoulder. "Hanging in there, Jake?"

"Yep, still hangin' loose."

"Look, Carlisle is running some more tests on Bella so I can't stay, but if you wanna talk ... Well, you know I've been with Carlisle the longest so you and I now have something in common. We've both been crash test dummies."

With a slight laugh Jacob gave Edward an appreciative nod. "I know that's right. Thanks for the offer."

"Anytime." Edward started to walk away when he stopped abruptly, "Hey, a bit later when you're up to it, come upstairs to see Bella. I know she would love that. Carlisle has reduced the sedatives that he's given her so she's awake now and could use a friendly face."

"I'd like that."

Edward nodded before disappearing down the hall as he called back, "Emmett! Remember. Radio!"

"You've got it, Bro!"

"Look. I know that you guys are trying to make me feel better and don't think that I'm not appreciative, but I need to get dressed..."

"After you shower," Rose injected.

"Yeah and there's that, too. I need to get dressed so I can get to cleaning up that mess."

"What mess?" Jasper gave Jake a confused look as he emitted another calming wave while Emmett began to grin.

"THE mess. Don't act stupid. You know that we need to clean up the living room before Carlisle kicks our butts ... again."

The soldier's brow furrowed as he shook his head slightly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Jake. Do you know what he's talking about, Rose?"

"Not a clue. Alice?"

"Nope and I can already tell that Emmett is just as much in the dark as the rest of us."

"Yeah Wolfie- Bro, what in the world are you talking about? I know Rose said that she was getting you something for pain, but that must have been some top shelf stuff. Maybe confusion is one of the side effects you have to watch out for."

"I got my tail yanked in a knot by Carlisle for tearing up the house and you all know that."

"Well there is that broken window that needs fixin', but the glass won't be delivered until around eleven so there's still a little time to do the prep work on that. Is that what you're worried about?" Jasper raised a brow as he gave the boy a half smile.

"Alright, what's going on? Spill."

"Like I said, Jacob. You're family and we look after our family." Rose smiled as she leaned back against her mate.

"Dude, the way we figure, your initiation into Clan Cullen was enough of a hardship. No one has any idea how long it will take that wolfish hide of yours to mend, so we figured that you needed rest more than anything else." Emmett eyes sparkled with good humor in having helped out his newest family member.

"But Carlisle said..."

Alice's tinkling laughter easily cut Jacob's words off.

"Momma convinced him that you had learned your lesson. She even had him helping with the clean up."

"We do still have to install that new pane of glass though," Jasper stated plainly with a short nod. "It was a bit of a trade off between Momma and Papa. You got off of KP as long as you still keep up your end of repairing what you broke. You know, considering that you threw me into the window, I don't know why I'm helping you fix it."

The soldier smirked at the still confused boy.

"Edward has already cleaned out all the broken glass and old caulking from the frame," Alice offered helpfully.

"So all we have to do is put it in and seal it up," the southerner finished.

Jacob was silent for a moment while his eyes flitted over the collected vampires surrounding him before slowing releasing his breath in a soft huff. Finding himself at a loss, the shifter dropped his gaze towards the floor.

"Wow. I... I don't even know what to say, you guys."

A hand settled lightly on the Quileute's shoulder and he looked up to find Rosalie smiling down at him.

"Thank you is always a good option, but you don't have to say anything. Welcome to the family, Jacob." A glint appeared in the elegant blonde's dark eyes. "Of course you've been designated as the..." She looked away from him for a moment as she tried to find the right wording. "Jasper, was what it that you said to Dad about how we view Jacob?"

Jasper allowed himself to relax with his back against the door frame while a mischievous grin came over him.

"You mean the cousin twice removed who the rest of us try to keep hidden in the basement?"

Rose pointed her finger towards her brother and gave a nod as her smile brightened.

"That's the one."

Jacob trailed his eyes from Rose over to Jasper. "So now I'm the looney relative that you're too ashamed of to acknowledge."

"Sumpthin' like that."

The boy averted his eyes and sighed heavily. "I guess I can live with that."

Emmett's eyes suddenly widened as he glanced around at his siblings.

"Aw, man! Does this mean that we can't have a dog anymore? I liked having a pet."

"Until you had to clean up after him," Alice cheerfully reminded her brother.

"Isn't that usually the case? All critters are cute until they make a mess or bite somebody." Jasper crossed his arms and shook his head. "Besides Em, you know how Momma goes on about the house. Having a dog shedding all over the place. She just wouldn't go for that."

"But I promise that I'll groom him and take him out for his walks."

"Hey," Jacob chimed in. "You know, dudes, I'm right here. I thought that it was common knowledge now that you're not supposed to tease me."

"He's right, Em. Dad did say that we weren't allowed to tease the dog." A wicked grin curved Rose's lips causing Jacob to cock an eyebrow in wonderment. "But I bet it would be okay to train him and teach him some tricks."

"Come here, Jake. Would you like to go for a walk? I'll have to go get you a nice studded collar the next time Alice and I go to the mall. I'm sure Seth and Leah will be jealous of you when you go out sporting your new attire."

"Watch it, Blondie. Never forget that this dog bites."

"Might want to pick up a muzzle, Rose. With these new dangerous dog laws, I think there is something saying that you have to keep this vicious animal muzzled at all times."

Jacob glared at Jasper with a deep growl rumbling in his chest.

"Is that all you've got, pup? Dang, but I can growl louder than that."

The boy snatched up the nearest pillow and threw it at the southerner who smoothly dodged the puffy projectile.

"Gotta do better than ..." A pillow exploded across the back of Jasper's head causing him to stumble a few steps before turning to face his attacker.

Rosalie held the limp remains of her weapon while white feathers swirled between them partially obscured her from view. "Knock it off, Jazz. That's my little mongrel. I'm the only one that gets to treat him like that."

"Is that right? Well then you better train that pup of yours to be a guard dog cause you're gonna be needin' one."

Jasper lunged at his sister and wrestled her to the ground while tickling her mercilessly while Alice sat back on her heels on the bed gleefully enjoying the show.

In the midst of drifting feathers and squealing vampires, Jacob caught sight of a lumbering figure in his peripheral vision.

Turning his attention towards Emmett, Jake noted a disconcerting shimmer in the bruin's eyes before he flashed from the room.

_That can't be good._

Almost instantly the hulking dark haired boy was back sporting an ear to ear grin while tossing something small and yellow high in the air only to catch it again.

"Look what I've got, Jakie." The muscular youth held a rubber yellow duck out toward Jacob and squeaked it loudly. "Come on, Jake. Wanna play? Look at the duckie. Want the duckie, boy? Go get it, Jakie. Fetch!"

Jasper stilled suddenly in his attack on Rosalie and glanced up at his brother with a panicked expression. "Emmett, wait!"

The soldier's intervention had come a split second too late. The soft rubber fowl soared ungainly across the room like a out of control missile before bouncing off of a lamp and sending it crashing to the floor.

A hush engulfed the room's inhabitants as they stared mutely at one another while sharing in a feeling of foreboding.

"What was that?" Carlisle's voice rang out shattering the silence. "Who broke what this time? Emmett?"

"Holy crap," whispered the bruin. "Scatter. Every man, woman and...um, dog for himself! Go! Go! Go! Serpentine. It makes you harder to catch."

Jacob found himself completely alone as his new found siblings vanished into thin air right before his eyes.

"Gee, thanks for leaving me holding the bag here, guys. Vampires. Pfft."

Shaking his head, the Quileute stood with a slight groan as he held up the baggy shorts and walked over to inspect the broken remains of the lamp. Brushing some crumbled bits of ceramic away from the bright yellow projectile, he picked the happy little duck up and looked it sternly in the eye.

"Just look at what you've done. What have you to say for yourself, Mr. Duck?"

"I was just about to ask the same of you?"

The velvety soft voice caused the shifter's hackles to rise. Slowly turning around Jacob spied Carlisle sitting comfortably on the bed calmly appraising him and the broken lamp.

A quick squeeze of the duck caused it to squawk and the boy nodded his head in agreement.

"Yep. It's just like what he said." The boy pointed towards the squeaky culprit. "Sorry, Carlisle. It was an accident."

Carlisle crossed his legs and rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip as onyx eyes narrowed in thought.

"Accidents seem to happen quite a lot around you, don't they Jake?" The doctor dropped his hand from his face and crooked a finger to call the boy over towards him. "The same can be said for a couple of other members of this household so I guess you're in good company."

"What can I say, Carlisle?" He shrugged while donning his most charming smile. "I'm just one of the family."

"Uh huh. A very important and treasured member of the family who learned only last night that roughhousing inside of the house is not allowed or did I not make that point clear enough?"

"Oh, you made that point loud and clear, but Carlisle, you do realize that I wasn't the only one in this room, right? I mean I did have company and all that jazz."

"Jazz indeed."

"It wasn't meh, Papa. Ah, swear."

Ignoring his southern son's interruption, Carlisle gave the wolf boy a nod. "I'm well aware of that fact, Jacob."

The elder blonde motioned once again for the boy to approach him.

"Man." Jacob sighed and hung his head as he took that slow long walk to his demise.

With the youth standing before him, Carlisle reached out and turned Jake to the side before gathering the boxers snugly around his waist. Neatly folding the extra material, he quickly secured it at the boy's hip with a pin then patted the makeshift adjustment lightly. Fairly pleased with the results, Carlisle smiled.

"There. Not perfect, but it will have to do for the time being. We'll come up with someway to get you some proper clothes soon."

The confounded expression on Jacob's face caused Carlisle to chuckle.

"But, I thought..."

Ruffling the shifter's hair, the elder commanded softly.

"Go take a quick shower so you can get dressed and come eat. Esme has been waiting to make you some breakfast since you didn't come down and join Seth this morning. I'm sure you must be starving."

As if in response to the doctor's words, Jake's stomach voiced it's complaint loudly.

"Obviously, I'm correct."

"Yeah, I'm a little hungry."

"Then get a move on, young man. If you shower quickly, I would say that the replacement for the window will be arriving right as you're finishing eating. Then you and Jasper and get that fixed and we can call this complete."

"What about the lamp?"

"Oh, I'm sure that the guilty party will take care of that."

Carlisle stood and, placing his hands on Jacob's shoulders, turned the boy towards the bathroom. "Off you go."

Jacob took a few steps away before he stopped and turned to the blonde.

"Carlisle?"

"Yes, Jacob?"

"Thank you for ... I don't know. Just, thanks."

Carlisle smiled gently as he bobbed his head a single time and met the boy's dark brown eyes.

"Welcome to the family, son," was his soft reply before the doctor slipped out the door leaving the Quileute to enjoy a rare moment of peace that he knew would end all too soon as they always do in the house of Cullen.

**_FINI_**

* * *

**AN: **And that is a wrap, my friends. Hope you enjoyed my little expansion of "Breaking Dawn". Brings Jacob into the fold a little sooner and keeps Bella doped up and out of the way. ;-) Yes, I know that's very wrong of me, but we all have our little fantasies.

Thanks for taking this short sidetrack journey with me and for all the support throughout. Special thanks as always to Splinter, my wondrous beta, who helps bring these stories to y'all with 75% less eye bleed. Woo Hooo!

Until next time.


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